The Angel and the Ensign
by Darth Tabby
Summary: NUNS pilot Richard Long takes an interest in the pilot who saved his life: Talsha Vliriduul, a Meltran ace known as The Angel of No. 64 Squadron because she always brings her teammates home alive.  But the Angel may prove more human than he ever imagined.
1. Prologue

Prologue

The nickname that the pilots of the Frontier fleet had for the parts of space occupied by dense asteroid fields was "the soup," and rarely had there been a nickname more fitting. Such asteroid fields were the lifeblood of colony ships, a rich source of raw materials that allowed them to maintain their populations and their manufacturing capabilities. They were also a nightmare to fly in, as visibility was short, the chance of a collision was high, and the materials in the asteroids themselves often wreaked havoc on sensor readings. Such asteroid fields were a place where danger could lurk at every turn and come at an unsuspecting victim with hardly any advance warning, yet the critical importance of the resources they contained meant that they could not be ignored.

It was because of the danger and importance of asteroid field reconnaissance missions that they were often assigned to elite fighter squadrons -squadrons like the Third Fighter Wing's Number-Sixty Four Squadron. Known throughout the fleet as the Banshees, the twelve Meltrandi pilots of Number Sixty-Four Squadron were equipped with heavily armed and armoured Queadluun-Rheas that were painted in a distinctive looking black colour scheme. The one exception to this was a single white painted Queadluun that was flown by the leader of the squadron's B Flight. Her unusual machine contrasted starkly with that of her wingman as the two of them skillfully weaved their way through a section of the asteroid field their squadron had been assigned to reconnoitre.

"Banshee Six to Banshee Five. I'm picking up some faint sensor contacts at three o'clock."

Second Lieutenant Talsha Vliriduul, call sign "Banshee Five," glanced at the sensor readings that her wingman's Queadluun was transmitting to her and quickly compared them to the readings from her own unit's sensors. The two didn't match, but that didn't really surprise her. The responses her wingman's sensors were getting were very faint due to the poor conditions, so it was understandable that her own unit's sensors couldn't detect anything at that point. Deciding that the faint readings were significant enough to warrant further investigation, Talsha acknowledged her wingman's transmission, then sent one of her own over the squadron's general frequency.

"Banshee Five to Banshee One. My wingman has picked up unidentified sensor contacts in our search area. Request permission to investigate."

"Roger that, Banshee Five," her squadron leader responded. "Permission to investigate granted, but don't take any chances. Be on your guard."

Talsha acknowledged the order, then sent another transmission to her wingman.

"Will do, Banshee One. Banshee Five to Banshee Six. We're going to investigate those readings. You take the lead, and I'll cover your six."

Her wingman, a young but very promising ensign by the name of Jarnika Kural, acknowledged her order.

"Copy that Five. It's nice to know I'm going to have an angel watching over me out here."

Talsha frowned slightly at the reference to the nickname the other members of the squadron had given her.

"Focus on your flying, Six," she ordered, then positioned her Queadluun to follow Jarnika's as it began to twist and turn through the densely packed asteroids. Both machines picked up sporadic sensor contacts, but neither one could positively identify them. Their pilots had suspicions however. Something about the sensor contacts indicated that they were probably hostile.

All of a sudden a warning alarm sounded in Talsha's cockpit, and a line of red chevrons appeared in the upper left quadrant of her Queadluun's HUD. Noting the direction of the incoming threat, she reacted almost instantly.

"Look out!" she yelled over the communications channel as she spun around and opened fire on the incoming Vajra drone with her Queadluun's rapid fire arm guns. The small-type drone –which was about to try to impale her with its flagellum- was struck point blank by a flurry of shells before exploding in a powerful blast that shook her Queadluun as the shockwave passed by.

Almost instantly Talsha's HUD was alive with activity as it displayed multiple incoming sensor contacts, including one below her and another below Jarnika. Quickly reorienting her Queadluun so that she was looking down on her wingman and the two incoming Vajra drones, Talsha issued an order.

"Jarnika, get that one below you! I've got your back."

Jarnika didn't take the time to acknowledge Talsha's transmission. Instead she opened fire on the drone below her, which dove to try to evade her fire. She followed, and the second drone tried to follow her, only to be destroyed a moment later by a well placed burst from the chest mounted beam guns on Talsha's Queadluun. Talsha smirked a little as she watched the drone explode. A lot of attention was paid to the Queadluun-Rhea's missiles, rapid fire arm guns, and heavy anti-capital ship beam cannon, but the lowly chest mounted beam guns could be very effective when used properly.

Talsha sent out a transmission on the squadron's general frequency as Jarnika dove under an asteroid and she followed the younger Meltran by passing over it.

"Banshee Five to Banshee One. We are currently engaged in combat with a Vajra force of unknown size. Request reinforcements."

Commander Jelka's authoritative voice crackled over the communications channel.

"Roger that Banshee Five. Banshee One to all units: you heard her."

For a squadron as tightly knit as the Banshees, no further orders were necessary. Five pairs of Queadluuns immediately altered course to assist their beleaguered comrades. The rest of Talsha's flight was particularly eager to reinforce their leader.

"We're on our way, Angel!" Banshee Seven –Ensign Mira Soltam- informed Talsha as she and her wingman weaved their way through the asteroids at breakneck speed. "Just keep them off Jarnika until we get there."

Talsha didn't reply as she cleared the asteroid and looked down upon Jarnika, who was currently engaged in combat with two small type Vajra drones. The young ensign fired a burst from one of her arm guns towards the drone that was farther away from her in order to head it off, then engaged the other with her Queadluun's chest guns. Talsha was about to assist her wingman by destroying the drone that had been driven off when she noticed the sinister red form of a large type Vajra drone emerge onto the top of a nearby asteroid.

"Jarnika, you've got a big one behind you at five o'clock! Look out!"

Jarnika opened her throttle in response to Talsha's warning, but was unable to put on much speed before the large type Vajra let loose with a volley of missiles. Talsha swore, then opened up on the missiles with both her arm guns, subjecting the swarm of warheads to a fusillade of high explosive projectiles that thinned their numbers just enough to give Jarnika a fighting chance. In doing this the more experienced Meltran also drew the Vajra's attention off her wingman's Queadluun and onto her own.

Glaring up at Talsha with its glowing red eyes, the large type Vajra took aim with the beam cannon mounted on its back. Pulsating yellow energy flickered along the massive weapon's length, and Talsha dodged to the side just in time for the searing beam of energy it fired to flash by her Queadluun and slam into a nearby asteroid, completely vaporizing a large portion of it and blasting the rest into a cloud of tiny fragments. The powerful shockwave this generated shook Talsha's Queadluun hard, but she paid it little heed as her insectoid opponent leaped off its perch and flew directly at her, ready to rip her Queadluun to pieces with its massive claws.

Realizing that she had to end the fight as quickly as possible and that her enemy was closing in too fast for her to be able to utilize the missiles she was carrying, Talsha activated the anti capital ship beam cannon mounted on her Queadluun's back and swung it into firing position. She barely had time to aim the heavy weapon before firing, but she got lucky: her hastily fired shot struck the Vajra's lightly armoured head and tore right through it into its abdomen. The creature stiffened, then exploded in a massive blast that sent Talsha's Queadluun flying.

The force of that explosion probably saved Talsha's life, as it not only knocked her Queadluun backwards but also knocked it away from the small type Vajra drone that had been preparing to stab her with its flagellum. Reacting quickly, Talsha stunned the drone with a blow from her Queadluun's left arm, sent it flying with a kick, and then promptly finished it off with a volley from her beam guns.

Even as her shots struck home Talsha's eyes were flickering across her HUD, searching for the positions of both her wingman and any nearby Vajra. It appeared that Jarnika was still alive, but the younger pilot was separated from Talsha by an intervening asteroid and it looked like she was about to get swarmed. The transmission Talsha received a moment later only reinforced that impression.

"Five, I could use a little help here!" Jarnika called out. The young ensign's voice sounded noticeably strained, and that said something. Jarnika might be less experienced than the rest of the members of the squadron, but she was still a Banshee, and Banshees didn't panic easily.

By that point Talsha's Queadluun was already racing towards Jarnika's position, passing low over the top of the intervening asteroid as it barrelled in at full throttle.

"Heads up, Jarnika!" she yelled over the communications channel. "Watch for falling missiles!"

As she spoke, Talsha's Queadluun shot over the edge of the asteroid and passed over the location where her wingman was locked in a desperate life and death struggle to repel the Vajra that were threatening to overwhelm her. Seeing just what she had expected to see, Talsha immediately sprang into action. Calling up a targeting program, her eyes darted rapidly back and forth as she placed a target marker on each of the Vajra drones. A series of triangular red indicators appeared on her HUD as her Queadluun's computer locked on, and then it was time to drop the hammer.

Now inputted with the necessary targeting data, dozens of miniature missiles burst forth from the ordinance bays of Talsha's Queadluun and rained down upon their targets like a hail of meteors. Within a few seconds the swarm of munitions had claimed several of the Vajra drones and was hard on the tails of the remainder, viciously twisting and turning as they drew closer and closer to their prey.

Satisfied with the results of her handiwork, Talsha took a moment to drive off a pair of drones that had attempted to come at her from above before dropping in beside her besieged wingman.

"Stick close to me, kid!" she ordered. "Mira and Zaria will be here shortly."

"Yes ma'am!" Jarnika replied. The younger pilot sounded a little breathless, but otherwise seemed to be keeping herself together. That was good, because Talsha's sensors were picking up several new contacts among the nearby asteroids.

"Here they come! Look sharp!"

What followed was approximately sixty seconds of what could best be described as complete and utter madness. With both their targets now grouped together in a single location, the Vajra attacked in force, while Talsha and Jarnika fought back with everything they had. Rotary cannons, beam guns, and missiles were all judiciously employed as the two Meltrans struggled to cover each other and fend off the swarm of attackers that attempted to overwhelm them. Even the heavy beam cannons mounted on the backs of their Queadluun's saw action during the battle as Talsha used hers to destroy asteroids that evading Vajra drones were using as cover and her wingman soon began to follow suit.

At some point during that mad minute a warning alarm sounded in Talsha's cockpit, and she looked up to find a swarm of missiles headed her way, courtesy of the large type Vajra that was leaning over the edge of a nearby asteroid. Cursing, Talsha thrusted away from the incoming barrage and opened fire on it with her Queadluun's arm guns. She managed to destroy a large portion of the warheads, but quickly realised that it wouldn't be enough –there were too many missiles and not enough time. Coming about with a quick spin, she aimed her Queadluun at a gap her fire had created in the centre of the enemy barrage and charged straight at it, hoping she could make it through before the missiles on the edge of the formation could hone in on her. Miraculously she did, and her Queadluun shot through the gap, tore through the middle of a group of small type Vajra, and made straight for the last known position of the drone which had managed to surprise her. Zooming past the asteroid her foe had fired from, she spotted the offending insect hiding on its upper surface and opened fire with every weapon she had.

"Take this!" she snarled as missiles, cannon shells, and high powered energy beams bombarded the large type Vajra. It exploded, and she spun around to meet the swarm of smaller drones that were now chasing after her. As she did so she spotted two new large type drones coming to join the battle and swore.

"Jarnika, I want you to go after those two big ones. I'll keep the little guys off your back!" she ordered as she fired several beam cannon shots towards the incoming large types in order to indicate their position for her wingman and hopefully do a little damage in the process. Jarnika acknowledged her order, and Talsha steeled herself for what she had to do next. She'd hoped to bring both herself and her wingman home from this mission alive, but she was starting to have serious doubts about her ability to accomplish that objective. There were just so many Vajra…

Without warning dozens of cylindrical objects streaked by on either side of Talsha's Queadluun and slammed into the incoming swarm of drones, their long blue exhaust trails coming to an abrupt end in a maelstrom of small explosions. What few drones managed to break the surface of the conflagration were promptly met by a barrage of cannon shells and energy beams that were also fired from above and behind Talsha's position.

"Hi Angel. Mind if we drop in?" Waria quipped as she and Mira's black painted Queadluuns descended from above to join the melee. Rarely had Talsha been more glad to see her subordinates, but her first priority was Jarnika. Finding the younger pilot's position indicator on her HUD, she quickly flew over to check on her charge.

"Banshee Five to Banshee Six. You okay, kid?"

Jarnika's Queadluun turned to face Talsha's as she approached.

"Yeah. I managed to handle those two somehow."

Talsha allowed herself to smirk a little at that. Jarnika was quite modest, a rare quality in a pilot who looked like she might someday rank among the fleet's top aces.

"Good. Banshee Five to Banshee One. Six and I have linked up with Seven and Eight. The Vajra appear to be breaking off their attack."

Commander Jelka's voice came in loud and clear on the squadron frequency.

"Roger that Five. The rest of us will be with you shortly. NUNS Command is sending a Variable Fighter squadron to assist us as well."

"Then I guess we'd better finish this quickly so that our side doesn't suffer any casualties," Waria joked.

"Cut the chatter, Eight," Commander Jelka ordered, although Talsha suspected her commanding officer was secretly amused by her subordinate's remark. As the leader of one of the most elite fighter squadrons in the Frontier Fleet's New UN Spacey contingent she was well aware of how limited the capabilities of many of the fleet's other fighter squadrons were.

As they were waiting for the rest of the squadron to arrive, Talsha received a hail from Jarnika on a private frequency.

"Lieutenant. I just wanted to thank you for saving me earlier," the young ensign told her when she accepted the hail. Talsha shook her head.

"Don't worry about it, kid. We're comrades. We watch each other's backs."

"Yes, but you still saved my life at least twice today," Jarnika noted, "and this is hardly the first time either." When Talsha didn't respond, she continued. "I guess you really are our squadron's guardian angel."

Talsha smiled sadly, but didn't object.

"Yeah," she agreed. She was the Guardian Angel of Number Sixty-Four Squadron. Even if she didn't want to be.


	2. Chapter One

Chapter One

_I really need to be careful what I wish for, _Ensign Richard Long decided as his VF-171 Nightmare Variable Fighter hurtled towards the swarm of Vajra that he and the rest of C Flight had been assigned to intercept. Ever since he'd scored his first confirmed kill on a mission two days prior, Richard had been eager for a chance to get another one, and was quite disappointed when C Flight ended up being assigned to what was supposedly a low risk convoy escort mission. He'd found himself fervently hoping that the "low risk" convoy escort mission would turn out to be a little less low risk than it appeared to be, and had been quite excited when one of the escort group's RVF-171 reconnaissance valkyries reported unidentified sensor contacts emerging from a nearby asteroid field.

Now that he and his comrades in C Flight were about to go head to head with a swarm of Vajra that outnumbered them more than five to one, he was beginning to have second thoughts about the matter. Especially since the convoy they'd been assigned to escort was pretty far away from the main fleet and the reinforcements it was able to provide. That meant that the only back up C Flight could count on was a pair of RVF-171s and a lone cruiser that was almost as vulnerable to Vajra attack as the transport ships it was supposed to be escorting.

The voice of C Flight's leader, Lieutenant Jonathan Hunter, crackled over the communications channel as the incoming Vajra entered firing range.

"Raptor Nine to Flight. Weapons free. Fire at will."

Taking that as his cue, Richard gave the trigger on his flight stick a light squeeze. Almost immediately the six long range missiles and two anti-ship missiles that his VF-171 was carrying leaped from their underwing stores stations and sped towards the enemy, joining three similar sets of missiles in a cloud of blue exhaust trails that faded rapidly into the distance. A faint ripple of flashes appeared as the munitions detonated, and several of the threat indicators on his cockpit's Multi Function Display winked out, but an unsettlingly high number of them did not. Grimacing slightly, Richard selected the high manoeuvrability micro missiles that his Nightmare was carrying in its internal magazines and underwing weapons pods and readied himself for the next stage of the battle.

Their numbers barely thinned by the volley of long range missiles, the swarm of Vajra emerged from the cloud of explosions that had blanketed them and bore down on C Flight at high speed. With the range between the opposing forces closing rapidly, Richard had just enough time to fire off a single volley of micro missiles before a warning alarm went off in his cockpit, reminding him that he and his teammates weren't the only ones who were equipped with missiles.

"C Flight, switch to Battroid mode!" Lieutenant Hunter ordered as a wave of Vajra ordinance raced towards the fighters under his command. The pilots of C Flight wasted little time in carrying out his order. Within seconds all four of the flight's VF-171s had made the transition from Fighter mode to Battroid mode and were opening fire on the incoming missiles, saturating them with cannon shells from their gunpods and energy beams from their head mounted point defence weaponry. Explosions filled the space in front of the quartet of valkyries as their pilots struggled to ensure the destruction of the enemy warheads. There was a brief moment of calm as the last of the incoming munitions was destroyed, and then the Vajra were upon the group, some of them rushing by to attack the convoy the flight was supposed to be protecting while others concentrated their attention on the flight itself. Richard tried to use his gunpod to destroy a small type Vajra from the former group as it passed by above him, but it went by too fast for him to score a hit on it.

"Raptor One-One, Raptor One-Two, I need you to go after those guys," Lieutenant Hunter informed Richard and his wingman. "One-Zero and I will handle the ones here!"

"Roger that!" Richard yelled back as he shifted his Nightmare from Battroid mode to Fighter mode and threw open his throttle. A quick check of one of his cockpit displays confirmed that his wingman had done the same thing and was following close behind him.

Scanning the group of Vajra that was spread out in front of him, Richard prioritised the three large type drones that were among their number. The high powered beam cannons that the large types were equipped with were powerful enough to destroy a small capital ship with a single shot, so they were by far the biggest threats to the cruiser and the civilian ships in the convoy. Singling out one large type from among the three, Richard waited for his Nightmare's computer to achieve a firing lock, then launched a volley of missiles from his underwing micro missile pods. Twelve blue tailed warheads streaked out of their launch tubes and raced towards their target only to fall victim to some kind of countermeasures that the insectoid alien dropped behind it.

"Damn it!" Richard swore as he watched his ordinance explode just short of its target. The Vajra drone was going to get away from him if he didn't do something soon. His VF-171 wasn't fast enough to keep up with the alien, and he had doubts that its micro missile launchers had a high enough rate of fire to overwhelm the target's countermeasures through saturation. He really wished his unit was equipped with a Super Pack, but those were in short supply and his squadron hadn't received any yet.

Realising that his target would soon be out of firing range, Richard decided to try one last trick in order to get the large-type Vajra to break off its attack. Switching from his Nightmare's missile launchers to its gunpod and fuselage mounted beam cannons, he took aim at the rapidly escaping drone and opened fire on it, hoping that his shots would draw the Vajra's attention towards him and away from the convoy it was attacking. In spite of the poor accuracy of his fire the tactic seemed to be successful as the large type Vajra soon broke off its attack run and came about to face him.

_ That's right, come and get me you blasted insect._

Switching back to his micro missiles, Richard locked on to the incoming Vajra and fired a volley from his underwing pods at almost the same moment that the Vajra fired a volley of its own at him. Taking note of the warning alarm sounding in his cockpit and the glowing orange exhaust trails of the enemy missiles, Richard shifted his Nightmare into GERWALK mode and rolled to the right, opening fire with his gunpod as he did so. The Vajra missiles veered left to follow him as he shifted direction, and he waited for them to get close before shifting back into Fighter mode and slipping past them with a quick burst of speed. The remaining missiles had to make wide turns to compensate for his sudden manoeuvre, and by the time they did so Richard had gained enough distance to be able to switch to Battroid mode and finish them off with his gunpod and point defence guns.

Turning his attention back to his target, Richard was surprised to see that the large type Vajra was still alive after being hit by his micro missile volley. Shifting quickly back to GERWALK mode, he opened his throttle and got out of the insect's line of fire just in time to avoid being hit by its rapid fire arm guns.

_This thing is like a bloody cockroach! _he thought to himself as he returned fire with his gunpod. His target easily evaded his hastily fired bursts, then swung around and came right back at him, arm guns blazing as it closed in. Switching from GERWALK mode to Fighter mode, Richard put on a burst of speed and shot past his opponent before it could land a hit on him. In the time it took for the big insect to come around and pursue him he was able to spare a glance for his wingman and saw that the other pilot was currently locked in a manoeuvring fight with one of the small type Vajra drones that had broken off its attack alongside the larger one. Richard would have liked to have helped him, but he had his hands full dealing with his own target.

_Sorry Tristan, but it looks like you're on your own for a bit_.

Switching back to GERWALK mode, Richard came around in a tight loop and met his Vajra opponent in a head on pass, both of them spraying the area with cannon fire as they attempted to score a hit in the brief period of time before they passed each other again. Within moments the two combatants were flashing by each other, and as they did so Richard's sharp eyes caught a glimpse of the wounds his earlier missile barrage had inflicted on his foe. He felt a surge of confidence.

_I can do this!_ He thought to himself as he performed another loop and came back for another pass at his opponent. This time his shots struck home, and he was rewarded by the immensely satisfying sight of his target disappearing in a massive explosion.

_Gotcha!_ he smirked as he shot by the exploding Vajra and turned towards the area were Tristan was still struggling with the highly manoeuvrable small type drone. The deadly insect appeared to have gotten onto his wingman's tail and was proving very difficult to dislodge from that position. Closing in on the pair in Fighter mode, Richard waited until the small type drone's profile filled his Nightmare's gunsight before letting loose on it with his gunpod and beam cannons. Highly accurate fire peppered the unfortunate insect, and it vanished in a small explosion as Richard's VF-171 streaked by.

"Hey, that one way mine!" Tristan protested. Richard raised an eyebrow.

"Even though it was about two seconds away from stabbing your valkyrie in the ass?" he enquired, referring to how the small type Vajra appeared to have been trying to impale Tristan's fighter with its flagellum. Tristan was unrepentant however.

"Yeah. I was just about to nail him with my point defence guns. Then you barged in and ruined everything."

Richard rolled his eyes. The VF-171's head mounted point defence guns, which were set up to fire to the rear when the valkyrie was in fighter mode, weren't really powerful enough to deal with anything much more durable than an incoming missile.

"I'm sure."

Tristan might have said more, but their argument was cut short by the rather strained sounding voice of the woman who served as the Wasp's Flight Control Officer.

"Wasp to Raptor Squadron fighters. The Vajra have broken through our defence and are attacking the convoy ships. We need your help ASAP."

Pointing his VF-171's nose towards the convoy and checking the sensor readings on his Nightmare's MFD, Richard saw that the two RVF-171s had been destroyed and that the lone cruiser was now the only thing left defending the convoy. The large type Vajra that had gotten away from him earlier appeared to have been eliminated, most likely via the use of long range missiles, but there were still many small type drones remaining, and they were running amok among the helpless convoy ships. The cruiser was doing its best to drive them away with its guns, but there was very little it could do when its targets were constantly darting behind the convoy ships it was supposed to be protecting.

Lieutenant Hunter's voice crackled over the communications channel.

"Raptor Nine to Raptor One-One. You and Tristan are going to need to handle this one. Mark and I have our hands full just staying alive over here."

Richard muttered something vulgar under his breath, but gritted his teeth and complied with the order.

"Roger that!" he acknowledged as he opened his throttle and rocketed towards the besieged convoy. In the distance he could just make out the flashes of tracer and beam cannon fire that were emanating from the Wasp as well as a small explosion that was the result of either a hit to a Vajra drone or a hit to one of the convoy ships. This first small explosion was soon followed by another similar one, and Richard once again found himself wishing that his VF-171 was equipped with a Super Pack.

_This is going to be over by the time we get there,_ he realised as a third and a fourth explosion occurred somewhere within the convoy. He and Tristan might be able to save some of the convoy ships, but there was no way they would be able to save all of them. Not on their own, and not with all their long range ordnance already expended.

There was a beeping sound from the Nightmare's MFD, and Richard glanced down to see that a new group of sensor contacts had appeared in the distance. He was just about to give up hope for the convoy entirely when he began to receive a flurry of IFF squawks that resulted in the unidentified contacts suddenly turning into a dozen Super Pack equipped VF-171s from Number Seventy-Nine Squadron. At almost that exact moment a hail came in over one of the general frequencies.

"Boomerang One to Convoy Group Two-Five. We are here to assist you."

The return transmission from the Wasp's Flight Control Officer sounded very relieved.

"Boomerang One, this is Wasp. You are cleared to engage all hostile targets within fleet space. Fire at will."

Boomerang One acknowledged the Wasp's transmission, and then a long sheet of blue exhaust trails blanketed the convoy as dozens of long range missiles swept in from afar. Great clouds of explosions blossomed in the spaces between the convoy ships as the warheads found their targets, and then the attacking Vajra were in full retreat, what few of their number remained fleeing for the safety of the asteroid field as Boomerang Squadron's Nightmares swooped in to save the day.

"Boomerang One to Raptor Nine," the newcomer's commander hailed Lieutenant Hunter. "I'm going to take my current force and pursue these guys to the edge of the asteroids. My D Flight will assist you in securing the area as soon as they arrive. I ended up leaving them behind because they don't have Super Packs yet, but they should be here in a few minutes."

"Roger that, Boomerang One," Lieutenant Hunter replied. "Thank you for your assistance."

Richard and Tristan had tried to join in the pursuit of the fleeing Vajra drones, but soon broke off to rejoin the rest of their flight when they realised that their efforts were futile. Richard felt a bit jealous of the Boomerang Squadron pilots and their Super Pack equipped fighters, but kept his feelings in check since he knew that the other squadron's possession of such equipment and their commander's willingness to use it to its full capabilities was what had kept him from failing his mission.

Tristan contacted Richard on a private communications channel as the two of them flew towards their rendezvous with the rest of C Flight.

"So how many kills did you get this time?" his wingman enquired. "Two?"

Richard nodded as he checked the progress of the pursuit on his MFD.

"Yeah. The big one and the one that was about to nail you. There were probably one or two others in the initial missile volley as well but those are unlikely to be confirmed."

"Hey, two in one mission isn't bad. It's twice what I got. For that matter it's twice what you got last time around. You keep improving like this and you're going to be an ace by the end of our next mission."

Richard laughed.

"Personally I'm kind of hoping our next mission will be something nice and peaceful. I can wait a mission or two to make ace."

"Same here," Tristan agreed. "Although considering the way things have been going lately I wouldn't count on that happening."

Richard grimaced a little at that. Considering the way things had been going recently he wouldn't count on it either.

The communications channel fell silent as the two pilots met up with their comrades and resumed their mission.

XXXXX

Four pairs of bright blue exhaust trails lit the darkness of space as the four Queadluun-Rheas that made up Banshee Squadron's B Flight cruised towards their mission area. The orders their squadron had been given were simple –reconnoitre the section of an asteroid field that an attack on one of the fleet's convoy groups had originated from and destroy any Vajra they came across while doing so. Of course the fact that the orders were simple didn't mean that the mission itself would be. NUNS Command had good reasons for assigning it to an elite squadron.

A beeping sound rang out in Talsha's cockpit, and a flashing blue symbol appeared on the Meltran's HUD, indicating that her Queadluun's sensors had picked up a group of unidentified objects somewhere in the distance. The indicator continued flashing for several moments, then solidified as the Queadluun's communications suite received IFF squawks that identified the incoming contacts as a flight of New UN Spacey VF-171 Nightmares, call signs Raptor Nine to Raptor Twelve. Seeing this Talsha opened a communications channel and hailed the other flight's leader.

"Banshee Five to Raptor Nine. How are things looking out there?" she enquired.

"Banshee Five, this is Raptor Nine," the pilot of the lead Nightmare replied, "Things are pretty quiet right now, but I'd recommend you be on your guard. The convoy my flight was escorting got attacked earlier, and we might have lost it if reinforcements hadn't arrived as quickly as they did. With their help we managed to destroy most of the attackers, but a few of them managed to escape into a nearby asteroid field and may still be hiding in there."

Talsha nodded.

"That's why my squadron is here. Our orders are to search that asteroid field and destroy any Vajra that we come across while doing so."

The leader of the other flight whistled slightly at that.

"Good luck with that. Those things are pretty tenacious."

"We're well aware of that," Talsha informed him. "Have a safe flight home, Raptor Nine."

"Roger that. Good hunting, Banshee Five."

The two flights of fighters soon parted ways, but it would not be long before they met again.


	3. Chapter Two

Chapter Two

The fine tip of Richard Long's paint brush followed a precise path across the top of the piece of plastic on the paper in front of him, leaving a thin trail of blue paint in its wake. Drawing upon years of experience and practice, the Variable Fighter pilot kept a steady hand as he traced an unseen line along the slightly curved surface of the tiny part. When he had finally completed the drawn out stroke he was left with a single perfectly even blue stripe that was ready to be joined with the similar stripes he had already painted on other parts of the model kit he was working on.

"You know I'm always amazed that you can do that so precisely," a voice behind Richard noted as the pilot opened a container of cleaning fluid in preparation for washing his brush. Richard just shrugged his shoulders.

"I've had plenty of practice," he noted, "And having unusually small hands doesn't hurt. Thanks for not interrupting by the way."

Richard had been well aware of Tristan's entrance into the tiny cabin that the two of them shared aboard Battle Frontier, but was still thankful that his normally boisterous wingman had decided not to start talking to him until after he was finished with the fine detail work he had been doing.

"No problem," Tristan replied, "I wouldn't want to mess you up. I've always found it fascinating to watch you paint the small details on those things. If it were me trying to paint those markings I think I'd just end up with a bunch of coloured blotches all over the hull."

Richard smirked as he finished cleaning his brush and turned to face his wingman.

"As I said, having small hands helps."

Tristan laughed.

"Yeah, that's probably it."

Richard and Tristan might complement each other well as wingmen, but it would have taken some work to find two men who were more distinct from each other from a physical perspective. While Richard was less than five and a half feet tall and a bit on the lightly built side, Tristan was a veritable giant of a man, over six feet in height and extremely muscular due to the amount of time he spent hiking and climbing when he was on leave. He had green eyes and blonde hair that reached down to his neck while Richard had blue eyes and black hair that he kept relatively short. Tristan also had a well trimmed circle beard that he'd started wearing to hide the scar he'd obtained during one of his outdoor adventures on Island Three. He claimed the scar was from a vicious life or death struggle with a wild animal, but Richard had managed to get him to admit that he'd actually just slipped a couple of feet and struck a sharp rock while he was doing some climbing.

Tristan studied the array of plastic parts that was laid out on top of a sheet of paper on the cabin's lone table.

"A red VF-1 huh? Millia Fallyna Jenius' unit?"

Richard nodded.

"Yeah. The kit's a gift from my sister. I recently completed a model of Maximillian's VF-1J, and my sister decided that it needed a model of Millia's fighter to compliment it." He shrugged his shoulders. "My sister is a bit of a hopeless romantic."

"This is the sister that's taking engineering courses? Or the one that's in her last year of high school?"

"The one that's taking engineering courses."

"Ah, that would be Sylvia, right? You should introduce me to her sometime. She's pretty cute."

Richard gave Tristan a distinctly unfriendly look.

"Tristan," he said flatly, "you're a great friend and a great wingman. When I fly with you I know I've got someone I can trust covering my six. That being said… if you so much as _hint_ at making a move on my little sister then I swear by the power of all things holy that I will beat you to within an inch of your life. Understood?"

Under normal circumstances the idea of the diminutive Richard beating up the enormous Tristan would be almost comically ridiculous, but both men knew that when younger sisters got involved the normal rules ceased to apply. Tristan quickly raised his hands.

"Hey, I'm just messing with you dude."

"You'd better be," Richard told him darkly. Richard liked Tristan and greatly enjoyed the larger pilot's fun-loving personality, but he also knew that the man went through girlfriends faster than pretty much any person he'd ever met. Richard generally didn't poke his nose into Sylvia's love life but he was pretty sure she was looking for a relationship that would last for more than a few weeks.

Deciding that it would be safer not to press the matter, Tristan returned to the subject of Richard's model kits.

"I'm a little surprised you didn't get around to building a model of Max's VF-1 until recently. I would have thought you'd have finished the rides of all the big Space War I aces years ago."

"I sort of did," Richard replied. "I just decided to build new versions of a lot of them because I wanted some higher quality ones that were all the same scale. Plus you've got to remember that Max didn't start flying a One-J until after the war. During it he flew a One-A."

"Ah, so you built his One-A early on and his One-J much later?"

"Yeah. Which meant that the One-J was actually pretty decent looking and I didn't have as much incentive to build a new one as I did with the One-A."

Richard took a moment to study the parts on the table before continuing.

"Truth be told Max was never really my favourite of the Space War I aces when I was a kid. The movies always portrayed Hikaru as the big hero, so he was my favourite pilot when I was a little kid, then once I got into my teens I became a fan of Roy because he was so cool and manly."

"And now?" Tristan enquired, obviously curious. Richard just shrugged his shoulders.

"Now that I'm an adult and actually fly valkyries for a living I'm less concerned about which of my childhood heroes was the coolest. I still admire them, but I no longer idolize them."

"Aw, that's a grown up answer. Where's your inner child?"

Richard sighed.

"Okay, fine. If I was to choose a favourite nowadays it would be Maximillian. He was the best pilot of the war and his personality seems a lot more similar to mine than Roy's or Hikaru's. "

Tristan smirked at Richard.

"He also married a really hot Meltrandi ace," he noted. Richard rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, but I think I could do without seven daughters. Besides, I'm not fond of green hair."

"Then we just need to find you a hot Meltrandi ace who doesn't have green hair and understands the concept of family planning. It might take a little work, but it should be doable if I look around a bit." Tristan saw the look Richard was giving him. "What?"

Richard sighed again.

"Tristan, you've set me up with three different girlfriends in the two years that we've flown together and none of them has worked out for more than a few months."

Tristan spread his arms in a dramatic fashion.

"So?" he demanded. "Fourth time's the charm. Besides, I didn't know you were looking for a Meltran when I set you up with those girls."

"I'm not looking for a Meltran. I'm just looking for a nice girl who doesn't mind my model collection or the fact that I'm short."

"Okay, so you're looking for a Meltran ace who is a nice girl, likes valkyrie models, and doesn't mind the fact that you're short. That last one shouldn't be that hard to find –Max Jenius wasn't exactly a big guy either."

Richard let out yet another sigh as he glanced at the clock that showed the ship's time. Twenty minutes until he and Tristan were supposed to be at a squadron briefing.

It was going to be a long twenty minutes.

XXXXX

Talsha tilted her head back and sighed as she felt warm water begin to cascade down her back. The Meltran pilot had always enjoyed being able to take a hot shower after completing a mission. Quite aside from getting rid of the smell the fluid used during the micloning process left behind such showers were also an excellent way to loosen her muscles after she had spent several hours in the cramped confines of a Queadluun's cockpit.

Then again, maybe she just enjoyed pampering herself. No one said Meltrandi soldiers couldn't enjoy being spoilt, after all.

Placing her hands behind her head, Talsha closed her eyes and leaned back, letting the warm water run through her long hair. Even in her micronized form she was nearly six feet in height, which was much taller than was average for a micronized Meltran. Her height -when combined with her white hair, deep brown skin, golden eyes, and elf-like Zentraedi ears- tended to make her stand out quite a bit. Which she'd sometimes found to be a blessing and sometimes a curse, especially during her teenage years.

One of the doors leading into the shower room swished open, and two more micronized Meltrans stepped in. The first one possessed red eyes and medium length blue hair. Her name was Mira Soltam. She was the second in command of Talsha's Flight as well as a crack shot with her Queadluun's heavy beam cannon. Despite that fact she didn't fit any of the popular stereotypes about sharpshooters. She was neither cold and reserved nor cocky and arrogant. Instead she had a gentle, kindly big sister type personality and showed a lot of concern for the well being of her sisters in arms.

The second Meltran was Mira's wingman. Her name was Waria Zuruk, and in terms of personality she fit all the stereotypes about ace pilots to a tee. She was cocky, fun loving, and boisterous, and it often seemed as if she _enjoyed_ flirting with danger. She was also exceptionally beautiful, possessing long red hair, alluring purple eyes, a slender figure, and incredibly smooth skin that was, as far as Talsha could tell, absolutely devoid of any kind of flaw or blemish. She always attracted a lot of attention whenever she made an appearance at Battle Frontier's recreational facilities, and it was not without a grain of truth that the rest of the squadron joked about her having broken the hearts of half the male pilots in the fleet. Waria might enjoy hanging out with guys, but she was also openly lesbian and had no interest in them whatsoever from a romantic standpoint.

Actually, Talsha suspected Waria might be in some sort of relationship with Mira. She couldn't say exactly why that was. She knew Mira had dated guys, but she just couldn't shake the impression that there was something going on between the two Meltrans. Maybe she just thought that way because the two of them spent so much of their off duty time together, but every time Talsha tried to convince herself that was all there was to it she found she couldn't make herself believe it.

Mira and Waria walked down the row of shower stalls together, then stopped just before they came to the one Talsha was using. A quick look passed between them, and Waria turned to the occupant of the stall next to Talsha.

"Jarnika, the adults need to talk. Come help me wash my hair."

Waria had exceptionally long hair, especially for a pilot. She normally wore it in a lengthy braid that reached most of the way down her back, but when she wore it loose as she was at that moment it was long enough to reach her thighs.

Glancing quickly at Talsha and Mira, Jarnika did as she was told and vacated the stall she had been using to join Waria. Despite being the squadron's rising star, the green haired, blue eyed ensign was a rather quiet young woman –more of a girl really as she was still only nineteen years old. Talsha wasn't entirely sure whether her wingman's shyness was due to her age, the fact that she had been assigned to an elite squadron right after graduating from the academy, or just her personality. She actually appreciated the younger pilot's lack of hubris –too many naturally talented people had an excessively high opinion of themselves- but she still found herself wishing that the young woman was a little more assertive at times. And maybe a little older as well. She didn't like feeling as if she were leading a kid into battle.

Mira slipped into the stall that Jarnika had vacated and started the water running. She took a couple moments to get comfortable, then turned to Talsha and cut straight to the chase.

"So what's bothering you?" she asked.

"What makes you think something's bothering me?" Talsha replied.

Mira gave Talsha the kindly big sister version of a "cut the bullshit," look, and Talsha sighed in response.

"It's nothing you need to concern yourself with, Mira."

Mira shrugged her shoulders.

"Maybe not, but I consider you my friend. Try and get past that whole "a leader is responsible for solving her own problems" mentality and just talk to me like you would if we were simply good friends."

Talsha shook her head.

"It's not a matter of rank, Mira. I simply don't want to talk about it."

Mira gave Talsha a "You're being childish" look, but didn't try to argue the point.

"It's about Jarnika, isn't it?"

Talsha sighed. It wasn't only in the cockpit that Mira could be a sharpshooter.

"A little bit," she admitted. "But it's not her fault. And there's a lot more to it than that."

"Like what?"

Talsha gritted her teeth.

"I don't want to talk about it, Mira."

Mira gave Talsha a hurt expression that made her feel like she'd slapped the blue haired Meltran across the face, but she held her ground. Realising that she wasn't going to get what she wanted, Mira softened her expression.

"I just want to help you, Talsha."

"I know," Talsha replied softly. Suddenly her warm shower didn't seem very enjoyable any more. Shutting off the water, she turned to face her subordinate directly.

"I'm sorry," she said simply, then slipped out of her stall and headed for the nearby changing room. The sound of a set of doors swishing open and closed marked her departure. Mira sighed, then shut off the water in her own stall.

"You can have your stall back now, Jarnika," she informed the young ensign. Jarnika –whose hands were covered in shampoo suds -glanced at the back of Waria's head.

"You're free to go," the red haired pilot told her. Looking grateful, Jarnika slipped out of Waria's stall and made her way back to her own. Mira patted the green haired ensign on the shoulder as they passed each other.

"Don't worry, hon. The Angel is just having some personal issues. It's not your fault."

Jarnika nodded her head.

"Thanks," she said quietly, then continued on to her shower stall while Mira joined Waria in hers. Grabbing some shampoo from a nearby bottle, the blue haired Meltran lathered her hands then began to run them through the redhead's long locks.

"I take it that didn't go so well?" Waria asked as she felt Mira's practiced hands begin working their way through her mane. The red haired pilot's eyes were closed as she stood with her head under the spray of the shower. Mira simply nodded.

"Yeah. She doesn't want to talk about it."

Waria grunted.

"Figures. You think we should have Commander Jelka kick her ass?"

Mira shook her head.

"We'd better not. She won't like it if she has to get involved with a personal matter, and we don't really have justification for bringing her in at this point anyway."

. "So what do we do now? Wait?"

Mira nodded.

"I think that's all we can do at this point."

The two lapsed into silence as Mira continued to work on Waria's hair.


	4. Chapter Three

Chapter Three

"Alright Banshees, listen up!" Commander Ursani Jelka ordered over her squadron's general frequency as the Queadluuns under her command approached their mission area. The Meltrandi squadron leader had given her pilots a detailed mission briefing just prior to their departure from Battle Frontier, but she wanted to make absolutely certain everyone knew what she expected from them. "The objective of this mission is the same as the objective of our last one: reconnoitre an asteroid belt and destroy any hostile units we come across while doing so. Reports from RVF patrols indicate that there has been a suspiciously large amount of enemy activity in the vicinity of our assigned search area, so I want all of you to be on your guard. I expect you to stick close to your wingmen, keep in contact with the rest of your flight, and call for back up if you run into trouble. Let's do this thing and do it without casualties, just like we always do. You got that girls?" A chorus of ayes rang out over the communications channel. "Then let's get to it!"

Without further ado eleven black Queadluuns and a single white one dove into the asteroid field and the dangers that awaited them within it.

XXXXX

_This is awesome._

Richard felt like a teenager who had just been given access to a brand new sports car as his newly Super pack equipped VF-171 departed from one of Battle Frontier's launch catapults alongside the rest of C Flight's Nightmares. The aspiring ace could positively _feel_ the difference the Super Pack's boosters were making to his valkyrie's performance as he opened his throttle and began to pull away from the big flagship. Combined with the more responsive handling the new thrusters provided it was almost like he was flying a completely different fighter. One that he couldn't wait to put through its paces.

The better performance wasn't the only thing he had to be excited about either. In addition to increased speed and agility the Super Pack also boasted improved offensive and defensive capabilities. New energy conversion armour had been added to several key locations, and two large containers full of micro missiles had been mounted above the engine intakes just aft of the fighter's cockpit. The new containers carried a substantially greater number of munitions than the usual underwing pods could, and they had the added advantage of not taking up valuable external stores pylons. Their presence had allowed C Flight's Nightmare's to increase both their micro missile load and their long range missile load at the same time.

Thinking about all the ways in which the new Super Pack improved his valkyrie's performance and combat capabilities, Richard found that he was almost eager for another run in with the Vajra. He'd had a close call with the convoy escort mission a few days prior, but that was partly due to the limitations of the stock Nightmare he had been flying at the time. Things might have gone differently if he'd had access to his current equipment.

An asteroid field came into view in the distance as C Flight flew towards their rendezvous with the patrol group they were supposed to be relieving, and Richard found himself eyeing it hungrily during a pause in his efforts to get a feel for his fighter's new handling characteristics. He'd heard there had been a lot of Vajra activity around some of the asteroid fields recently, and his mission briefing had specifically mentioned the belt he was looking at as a possible trouble spot.

Richard unconsciously licked his lips as he thought about the possibilities. Maybe if he got lucky he'd be an ace by the end of the day.

XXXXX

First Lieutenant Orla Mithos' HUD beeped at her as her Queadluun's sensors detected something moving among a group of nearby asteroids. Glancing quickly at the readings she was getting, the Meltran pilot frowned and sent a transmission to her squadron leader.

"Banshee Nine to Banshee One," she reported. "I've got an unknown sensor contact in my search area. It may be a Vajra drone."

"Copy that, Banshee Nine," Commander Jelka promptly replied. "Investigate and verify the identity of the unknown. If it's a Vajra drone then destroy it before it gets a chance to report our presence."

Orla nodded.

"Roger that, Banshee One."

Orla issued orders to her wingman and the rest of her flight so that they would be ready to back her up, then readied her Queadluun's heavy beam cannon and moved in on the suspect asteroids. The "unknown" indicator on her HUD flickered sporadically as she did so, momentarily splitting into two before immediately merging back into one again. Orla was just about in position to try to take the contact by surprise when a warning alarm sounded in her cockpit and a small type Vajra drone raced out from behind the asteroid in front of her, its head mounted beam emitter glowing with yellow energy as it bore down upon her. Reacting quickly, the Meltran took aim with her own beam cannon and fired with deadly accuracy, destroying the incoming drone with a single well placed shot. It exploded, and as it did so she saw two additional small type drones dash out from behind the asteroid and make a break for it. Her wingman managed to destroy one of them with a burst of cannon fire, but the other one evaded the attempts to destroy it and made it to the cover of the next asteroid.

"Damnit!"

Putting full power to her Queadluun's engines, Orla took off in pursuit of the fleeing drone.

"Banshee Nine to Banshee One. We've destroyed two hostiles and are in pursuit of a third."

The surfaces of the nearby asteroids began to blur as the chase picked up speed, and Orla found her sensory perception being pushed to the limit as her target dashed over, under, and around the large chunks of rock. At one point during the chase the drone released a string of sphere–like countermeasures that exploded into masses of spikes, but Orla weaved her way through them and continued the pursuit without slowing. Throughout the chase she fired off quick bursts from her Queadluun's arm guns, but could never keep her target in her sights long enough to score a hit.

"One-One, help me box this guy in!" Orla ordered the leader of her flight's second section as she and her wingman raced after the fleeing drone. The section leader confirmed the order, but didn't have time to execute it before Orla finally got lucky and managed to hit the drone with a burst of fire from one of her arm guns.

. "Gotcha!" the lieutenant snarled as she shot by the exploding drone and the asteroid it had been trying to weave around. She didn't have long to savour her victory however because a moment later her HUD was flooded by new contact indicators.

_What the hell?_

Orla's eyes widened as she realised she'd just flown into a veritable hornet's nest of Vajra drones.

"Yack! Deculture!"

XXXXX

_"Yack! Deculture!"_

Talsha knew the moment she heard Orla screech those words that something had gone seriously wrong. The term "Deculture" on its own no longer carried the same implications it once had due to its adoption as a piece of positive slang among humans, but the full "Yack! Deculture!" still had weight as the ultimate expression of shock and awe among Zentraedi. If a normally level headed officer like Orla was using a phrase like that it meant something.

"Banshee One to Banshee Nine! Report!" Commander Jelka's authoritative voice demanded over the squadron's general frequency. Talsha chose not to wait for Orla's response or the orders she knew would be coming. Instead she found her fellow Flight Lieutenant's position indicator on her HUD, pointed her Queadluun towards it, and took off at full throttle with the rest of B flight following close behind her. A grimace formed on her face as she listened to Orla's status report and steeled herself for what she had to do.

It was time for the Angel to make an appearance.

XXXXX

Richard was checking over some engine performance indicators on his cockpit's Multi Function Display when his Nightmare's communications system picked up a transmission on one of the fleet's emergency communications frequencies.

"Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! This is Banshee One!" a female voice barked. "My squadron has encountered a large group of Vajra in asteroid field E476 and is currently engaged in heavy combat. Request immediate reinforcements. I repeat, my squadron is engaged in heavy combat with a large force of Vajra in asteroid field E476. Request immediate reinforcements."

Richard gave a start as he realised where the transmission was coming from.

_That's…_

He turned his head to look out his cockpit canopy's port side viewport.

…_right next to us._

"Lieutenant! We're right next to E476!" Tristan exclaimed over the flight's communications frequency.

"I'm well aware of that, Ensign!" Lieutenant Hunter replied in a stern voice. "I'm contacting Command right now. Hold tight and wait for further orders."

His instructions may have been to "hold tight" for the time being, but even so Richard felt a surge of excitement course through his veins. The memory of Boomerang Squadron's valkyries swooping in to save the day during the convoy escort mission was still fresh in his mind. On that mission it was his flight that had needed to be rescued. Maybe this time it would be their turn to do the rescuing.

XXXXX

There was a saying in military circles that no battle plan survived first contact. Talsha had heard that saying dozens of times since joining the NUNS, and unfortunately it proved all too true in the case of her plan to assist Orla. Said plan had called for her flight to fly in through the asteroids and destroy as many of the attacking Vajra as possible in a surprise attack before linking up with Orla's flight and dealing with the remainder. The problem with that plan was that it didn't account for the fact that the Vajra also had reinforcements coming to join the battle.

The first sign of those incoming reinforcements was the missile warning alarm in Talsha's cockpit going off.

"Heads up!" the Meltran yelled over her flight's frequency as she spun to face the oncoming barrage. Dodging to the left, she opened fire on the missiles with her Queadluun's arm guns, thrusted away, opened fire with her arm guns again to destroy the remaining warheads, and then used her beam guns to blast the small type drone that had launched them as it flew by overhead. She had no time to gloat over her victory however as several more drones were already bearing down on her and her flight. One of the large types among the group was destroyed by a shot to the face from Mira's beam cannon as it dove in, but that was the only shot the sharpshooter had time to take before cannon fire from a group of small types forced her to concentrate on evasive manoeuvres.

Sparing just the briefest of moments to make sure that Jarnika was okay, Talsha commenced her counterattack. The enemy was too close for her to use her missiles, so she relied heavily on the rapid fire capabilities of her Queadluun's arm guns as she weaved her way through the swarm, flying upwards, downwards, forwards, backwards and sideways as she fought to gain the upper hand against her foes. A short distance away Jarnika was doing much the same thing as her leader, and the two pilots soon found themselves circling around each other like two partners in a dance, each one working to cover the other as they twisted and turned their way across the battlefield .

_Good job, kid_, Talsha mentally complimented her wingman as she took out a large type Vajra with a pair of beam cannon shots. Taking a moment to check on Mira and Waria's status, Talsha saw that her flight's second section was holding their own against the attacking Vajra. Unfortunately holding their own wasn't going to help Orla's flight very much.

Glaring angrily at the threat indicators on her HUD, Talsha redoubled her efforts to eliminate the Vajra reinforcements and link up with her besieged comrades. There was no way she was about to let a few overgrown insects prevent her from protecting her sisters in arms!

XXXXX

The moment Richard had been waiting for finally came.

"Raptor Nine to Flight," Lieutenant Hunter announced. "We have been granted permission to assist the friendly forces that are currently engaged in combat within Asteroid Field E476. One-Zero and I will take the lead, One-One, you and One-Two are to follow us at a distance of one hundred meters. Sensor range is going to be pretty limited in there so make sure you keep your eyes open and your head on a swivel."

"Copy that, Nine," Richard acknowledged as he watched the lieutenant and his wingman break formation and begin accelerating towards the nearby asteroids. Altering course to follow the two fighters, he gave them a moment to gain the necessary distance then began to accelerate himself.

It was time to see what his newly upgraded fighter could do.

XXXXX

Commander Jelka and her A Flight were racing through the asteroids towards Lieutenant Orla's location when the Meltran squadron leader received an unexpected transmission from NUNS Command.

"Banshee One, this is Command," the voice of one of the Command Centre operators aboard Battle Frontier informed her. "A Flight of VF-171s from Raptor Squadron is in your area and has volunteered to assist your squadron. They are currently en route to your C Flight's location. Estimated Time to Arrival is approximately ninety seconds."

Ursani swore under her breath.

"Banshee One to Command. Did you just say there's a flight of fighters coming to assist my squadron? A single flight? _Not_ the entire squadron?"

"That's correct, Banshee One. It's just a single flight that's coming from Raptor Squadron. But we've also scrambled two full squadrons from their carriers to assist you. They should be-"

Ursani cut the operator off before she could finish her sentence.

"Tell the flight from Raptor squadron to break off! Right now!"

"Huh?" The operator's surprise was clearly evident. _"Why?_"

Ursani was about to reply to the operator's question when she saw a flash of light on the surface of a distant asteroid and broke right just in time to avoid the searingly bright beam of energy that a large type Vajra had fired at her Queadluun. The surprise beam cannon shot was quickly followed by a massive volley of missiles, and Ursani and the rest of A flight were forced to scatter as scores of orange-tailed Vajra warheads raced towards them from at least four different launch sites. Dodging and weaving her way through the nearby asteroids, Ursani managed to evade or destroy all the missiles that were pursuing her, then circled back and launched a devastating counterattack. Using the cover of a group of asteroids to get close to the Vajra launch sites, the veteran squadron leader took out one large type Vajra with a missile volley then strafed another with her Queadluun's heavy beam cannon, hitting it several times and destroying it as it attempted to leave its suddenly vulnerable perch.

Lost in all the chaos was her answer to the question of why she wanted the fighters from Raptor squadron to break off their attempt to aid her subordinates. Had she had time to answer the question however her answer would probably have been something along the lines of "Because they're going to get themselves killed!"

XXXXX

Talsha threw her Queadluun's arm to the side and opened fire on the small type Vajra that was trying to race past her, filling the fast moving alien's flight path with a barrage of bright blue cannon fire. There were several small flashes as the volley of armour piercing and high explosive shells slammed into their target, then a much larger one as it disappeared in an explosion. Spinning her Queadluun around, the Meltran ace immediately acquired a new target and attempted to destroy it, but found her efforts frustrated by a nearby asteroid that her target decided to use as cover. She responded to this development by blasting the asteroid to pieces with her Queadluun's heavy beam cannon, then scanned the sensor readouts on her HUD to update herself on how the overall battle was progressing.

She and her comrades must have been putting up a pretty good fight, because the large and aggressive force of Vajra that had initially attacked them was now a much smaller and more cautious one. The insectoid aliens had begun the battle by attacking directly and in large numbers, but now seemed to be favouring small scale hit and run attacks, darting out from behind nearby asteroids just long enough to fire an energy beam or a volley of missiles before breaking off and dashing back behind cover. It was an extremely annoying tactic, but it was also one that indicated weakness. Sensing that the Vajra were trying to buy time with a delaying action, Talsha decided to get aggressive.

"Banshee Five to Flight: form up on me. We're going to force our way through."

Pointing her Queadluun towards Orla's still distant position, Talsha put full power to her engines and accelerated, the rest of her flight following close behind her as she did so. A trio of drones attempted to block the flight's path, but all three were quickly eliminated by an intense barrage of rotary and beam cannon fire.

Talsha's Queadluun flashed by the last of the exploding Vajra, and the Meltran pilot felt a grim sense of satisfaction as she resumed her headlong rush towards Orla. Her enemies were going to need to try much harder if they expected to stop her from getting to her besieged comrades.

XXXXX

With luck on their side, C Flight was able to launch a counter attack that caught the Vajra attacking their Banshee squadron counterparts completely off guard, destroying several of the insectoid aliens before they were even aware of the threat they were facing. Richard's first kills of the engagement were a pair of large type Vajra that he spotted on the surface of a nearby asteroid as he and Tristan prepared to join the battle. Taking advantage of the element of surprise, he hit the first of the two drones with the pair of anti-ship missiles his Nightmare was carrying on its outermost hardpoints, then unleashed the entirety of his remaining underwing ordnance –a full dozen general purpose long range missiles- on the second drone as it prepared to take a beam cannon shot at one of Banshee squadron's Queadluuns. The first drone was destroyed almost instantly by the powerful anti ship missiles while the second disappeared behind a cloud of explosions as the multitude of less powerful long range missiles slammed into it one after another. The cloud made it difficult to tell whether the second drone had actually been destroyed or not, so Richard strafed it's now obscured position with his valkyrie's gunpod and beam cannons for good measure. He didn't want a repeat of what had happened the last time he fought a large type Vajra.

Flush with triumph from his easy initial victories, Richard attempted to use his valkyrie's guns to score a third kill as he swooped in to join the main battle but his target –a small type drone- dove downwards and disappeared behind an asteroid before he could score more than a minor hit on it. Undeterred by this development, Richard shifted his VF-171 into Battroid mode and dove right into the thick of the engagement. His new kills had just earned him ace status after all. Surely an ace could handle this kind of situation.

"Raptor Nine to Banshee Nine –we are here to assist you," Lieutenant Hunter informed his Banshee squadron counterpart as Richard and Tristan's battroids joined the melee. Almost immediately the pair of wingman found themselves surrounded by a maelstrom of twisting and turning friendly and enemy targets. Shifting position so that their battroids stood back to back, the two pilots picked a pair of hostile drones and opened fire on them with their gunpods. Richard was able to follow his target and destroy it, but nearly paid for it with his life: a flicker of blue and the flash of an explosion somewhere behind him was the first and only sign he saw of the small type drone that had been about to nail him.

"Watch your sixes, Raptors," a female voice advised as a black painted Queadluun passed by overhead, its chest mounted beam guns already firing on its pilot's next target. Richard called out a thanks, but was too busy engaging another target of his own to pay much attention to the other pilot's advice. Besides which it would have been virtually impossible for him and Tristan not to leave some openings while fighting in an environment as chaotic as the one they found themselves in. The Vajra seemed to be _everywhere_.

The drone Richard was engaging managed to escape his fire by disappearing behind the cover of a small asteroid, but that was probably to his benefit as losing one target gave him a chance to notice that he had another one coming straight at him from his left side. Spinning to face his new opponent, Richard opened up on the small type drone with his Nightmare's gunpod and point defence guns and managed to deliver a fatal series of hits just in time to prevent the alien from annihilating him with the energy blast it had been preparing to fire.

Raising his Nightmare's arms and activating its pinpoint barrier system in an effort to shield his cockpit and main sensors from the exploding drone, Richard quickly recovered and began to scan the surrounding area for his next target. As such he was the first to spot the barrage of blue cannon fire that heralded the arrival of additional reinforcements.

"Banshee One to all units," a new voice announced. "Good work holding out."

Even as the voice spoke four black painted Queadluuns burst out of the asteroids and began laying waste to the attacking Vajra. Working in pairs, the Queadluun pilots concentrated their firepower and applied it with devastating effectiveness, destroying one large type and several small type drones in a matter of seconds.

Turning his attention away from the group of Queadluuns, Richard looked upwards and spotted two small type drones passing by overhead. Selecting one as his target, he opened fire on it with his gunpod but was forced to watch in frustration as it dodged his fire and managed to make it to the cover of a nearby asteroid. That frustration vanished a moment later when a burst of beam gun fire streaked in from somewhere above and to the right of his position, striking the hidden drone and causing it to explode in a satisfying fashion.

Almost immediately the space above Richard's valkyrie was alive with flashes of tracer and beam cannon fire as an additional flight of Queadluuns made their presence known. The Vajra drones replied to the newcomers in kind, and soon the area was awash with criss-crossing streams of yellow and blue weapons fire.

"Banshee Five to all units. Sorry we're late," the leader of the new group of Queadluuns informed her allies.

The arrival of Banshee Five's flight marked a decisive shift in the tide of the battle, hastening what had already begun with the arrival of the flight led by Banshee One. Deprived of the significant numerical advantage they had enjoyed earlier in the battle the Vajra were quickly put on the defensive by the counterattacking NUNS forces. Leaving the enemies in his area to the newly arrived Queadluuns, Richard turned his attention to helping Tristan only to find that his wingman didn't actually need his help anymore. The Vajra force they were fighting had completely collapsed, and those drones that were in a position to retreat were doing so. Only those few that had become trapped by the fray were continuing to fight in it.

Richard felt a twinge of disappointment as he observed the scene that was playing out in front of him. He felt like he should have been able to accomplish much more than he had. He hadn't really taken full advantage of his Super Pack's capabilities yet, and he still had a considerable quantity of ammunition left. He ought to be able to score at least one more kill before the battle ended. That would give him five kills –enough to make ace status even without the ones he'd scored on his previous missions.

Turning his attention downwards, Richard spotted a group of Vajra drones as they attempted to slip away into the nearby asteroids. There were at least four of them, including a large type. They made for a very tempting set of targets.

Coming to a decision, Richard shifted from Battroid mode to Fighter mode and pointed his valkyrie's nose towards the disappearing Vajra.

"Raptor One-One to Raptor One -Two," he radioed Tristan. "Let's go after these guys."

Throwing open his Nightmare's throttle, Richard dove towards the enemy.

XXXXX

Talsha and Jarnika had just finished off a large type drone with a barrage from their beam cannons when Talsha noticed one of the Raptor Squadron VF-171s make the transition Battroid mode to Fighter mode and dive towards a group of escaping Vajra.

_What the hell is that guy doing?_ the Meltran wondered as she watched the variable fighter swoop downwards at full throttle. The other pilot might just be hoping for a chance to catch a straggler as it tried to get away, but something about the way he flew said otherwise. His actions were too aggressive for that. Too committed.

Too dangerous.

_Those guys are going to get themselves killed,_ Talsha realised as she watched the VF-171 pilot's wingman transition to Fighter mode and follow after his leader. Taking stock of the situation with a quick scan of her HUD, Talsha came to a decision.

The Vajra's numbers had been reduced to a point were dealing with them would no longer require an entire squadron. Commander Jelka and Lieutenant Mithos' flights were in a strong enough position to handle the aliens on their own. Which meant that Talsha was in a position to go after the pair of Raptor Squadron fighters.

"Banshee Five to Banshee One," she informed Commander Jelka. "I'm going after a pair of friendlies that look like they're about to get themselves in over their heads. B Flight, form up on me."

Pointing her Queadluun towards one of the now distant Raptor squadron fighters, the Angel of Number Sixty Four Squadron took off in pursuit of those she intended to protect.

XXXXX

Utilising the extra thrust provided by his Nightmare's Super Pack it took Richard less than ten seconds to get within point blank range of the rearmost of the fleeing Vajra drones and open fire on it with his Nightmare's beam cannons. Dodging and weaving at high speed, the small type he was targeting managed to avoid the shots that were being fired at it, but Richard was undeterred. Even a sudden burst of speed from his target wasn't enough to shake his dogged pursuit. Switching over to his Nightmare's micro missiles, Richard set the warheads to their autonomous Lock-On After Launch mode and let rip.

_Eat this!_ he glowered as dozens of miniature munitions leaped from their launch tubes and containers in a veritable torrent of blue exhaust contrails. Their seekers active, the cylindrical weapons locked on to their targets and began to chase after them, twisting and turning as they got closer and closer to their fleeing prey. Some of the missiles fell victim to Vajra countermeasures while others lost track of their targets or slammed into asteroids, but at least some of them found their marks. Richard was pretty sure the barrage had claimed at least three or four enemy drones, but couldn't confirm anything due to the number of explosions and criss-crossing contrails that were obscuring his flight path. It took all his concentration just to keep from crashing into anything as he barrelled through.

There was at least one target that he knew hadn't fallen victim to the missile barrage however, and that was the lone large type Vajra. Its armoured body virtually unscathed by the attack, the big insect could be seen a short distance away as Richard's Nightmare passed out of the fiery maelstrom his missiles had created.

Destroying it would make for a perfect finale.

Switching back to his cannons, Richard put his target in his gunsight and let loose, literally spraying the big alien with energy beams and high explosive shells. The drone responded by going evasive, dodging and weaving surprisingly well for something so large. Unwilling to give up, Richard held his trigger down and stuck doggedly to his target's tail, scoring multiple hits in spite of its manoeuvres. The counter on his Nightmare's HUD that showed the valkyrie's remaining gunpod ammunition was dropping rapidly towards zero, but even that didn't make him cease firing. His target had taken a lot of hits. Its energy conversion armour couldn't possibly hold up for much longer…

The ammunition counter on the HUD struck zero, and Richard's gunpod abruptly ceased firing. The beam cannons did not however, and a moment later the large type Vajra finally succumbed to the onslaught and exploded, scattering pieces of debris as Richard's Nightmare rocketed past.

Richard could hardly believe what had just happened. How many kills had he scored on this mission? Eight? Ten? Only in his fantasies had he ever imagined he could score so many in a single mission. It was like he had suddenly become the hero of one of the Variable Fighter movies he'd watched while he was growing up, only instead of destroying cannon fodder Regults and Nosjadeul-Ger's like the movie pilots he had destroyed much more agile and formidable Vajra drones.

Flush with the heady feeling of victory, Richard was about to turn back and rejoin the rest of his flight when a warning alarm sounded and a set of red indicator triangles appeared on his HUD.

_What the-_

Richard's eyes widened as they caught sight of the massive volley of tracer rounds that was heading his way.

"Shit!"

Yanking back on his flight stick, Richard shifted into GERWALK mode and pulled a tight vertical loop, shifting direction a full one hundred and eighty degrees as the deadly barrage of cannon shells ripped through the space around his valkyrie. Shifting quickly back to Fighter mode, he reopened the throttle he had reigned in following the large type Vajra's destruction and took off like a bat out of hell, half a dozen and possibly more Vajra drones following close behind him.

Suddenly everything was far too clear. The Vajra drones he'd been chasing had concentrated on running rather than fighting because he'd started the chase in close proximity to his allies. The small group of Vajra knew they wouldn't be able to win if he called for reinforcements, so they had lured him away from his comrades and into a trap. One that he'd fallen for hook, line, and sinker.

The fact that he'd just exhausted pretty much his entire supply of ammunition just made the situation that much worse.

"Tristan, I could use a little help here!" Richard yelled as a burst of cannon fire flashed by on his Nightmare's starboard side, followed a moment later by one that passed by on his port side and one that passed by just below his fighter.

"Sorry Richard, I'm afraid I can't help you very much right now! I couldn't keep up with you through all those explosions, and now I'm being harassed by a pair of small types. I'll be there as soon as I can get rid of them. Just hang on!"

His eyes flickering to Tristan's position indicator, Richard was shocked to see just how far away from him his wingman was. He hadn't realised that he had left the other pilot so far behind.

He was in really, really big trouble.

The missile warning alarm in Richard's cockpit began to sound as several of the pursuing drones launched volleys of warheads at his Nightmare, and he found himself cursing as he switched the valkyrie's point defence beam guns to their Fully Autonomous Targeting and Engagement setting. Almost immediately the pair of rear facing weapons began to fire on the pursuing missiles, but Richard knew that they alone would not be enough to protect him. There were at least three or four _dozen_ Vajra warheads chasing after his fighter. Even a rapid fire gunpod with the fuses on its shells set to proximity mode would probably prove inadequate for dealing with such a large number of missiles. A pair of beam guns didn't stand a chance against such an onslaught.

Richard had no other choice. It was outfly the missiles or die.

Gritting his teeth, Richard pointed his Nightmare's nose towards a particularly dense cluster of asteroids and flew directly into it, careening through the deadly chunks of rock at full throttle as he sought to escape the pursuing swarm. Sheer terror gripped his heart as obstacles flashed by mere meters from his speeding fighter, but he did not reduce thrust for even a moment. Relying as much on gut instinct as conscious though, he flew to the limit of his abilities and beyond them, well aware that even the slightest error could have deadly consequences.

A large asteroid appeared in front of Richard, seemingly rising up to meet him as his valkyrie raced towards it. Switching to GERWALK mode, he skimmed across the asteroid's surface for a fraction of a second, then thrusted off of it, rocketing upwards as dozens of Vajra warheads slammed into the rocky terrain and exploded. Switching back to Fighter mode just in time to avoid a collision with one of the asteroids above him, he managed to make an additional group of missiles suffer a similar fate, this time more by accident than by design.

But even that stroke of luck wasn't enough to get rid of all the missiles that were pursuing his fighter, and to make matters worse the Vajra that had launched the warheads were still hard on his heels, pursuing him just as doggedly as he had been pursuing their comrades a short time before. For every missile that was shaken off by his manoeuvres or destroyed by his Nightmare's point defence guns, a new one showed up to replace it, and pretty soon Richard found himself trying to evade several different groups of missiles, each coming at him from a slightly different distance and a slightly different angle.

Bursts of cannon fire tore through the space around Richard's valkyrie, one of them passing within inches of his cockpit canopy as he weaved through the asteroids like a madman, constantly on the verge of losing control. Behind him his Nightmare's point defence guns were firing like crazy as they engaged missile after missile, never able to gain the upper hand in a battle they seemed destined to lose. In desperation Richard began purging parts of his valkyrie's hardware, jettisoning micro missile containers, add on armour, and even his empty gunpod in an attempt to shed weight and hopefully take out a few of the pursuing missiles in the process. The only parts of the Super Pack that he kept were the booster units, since he couldn't afford to lose the extra thrust they were providing.

Suddenly a large shadow fell over Richard's valkyrie as something dropped down from behind one of the asteroids he had just passed. Rolling slightly to port to compensate for the poor upper rear visibility of the VF-171's cockpit design, he glanced back through his canopy's starboard viewport and saw the massive red form of a large type Vajra, the lance-like beam cannon mounted on its back already pulsating with yellow energy as it prepared to fire on his fighter.

Richard knew that a large type Vajra's beam cannon was powerful enough to severely damage or even destroy a capital ship. Against a VF-171 in Fighter mode such a weapon was pure overkill. Even a Nightmare that was in Battroid mode –with its energy conversion armour fully charged and a pinpoint barrier available- couldn't survive a hit from a weapon that powerful.

He didn't have time to evade. He didn't have time to set his point defence guns to prioritise the large type Vajra either, and even if he had the low powered weapons wouldn't have done much damage to such a large and well armoured target anyway.

It looked like it was game over. His luck had finally run out.

Then, without warning a bolt of blue energy flashed past Richard's valkyrie and struck the large type Vajra's upper torso, followed a split second later by a second bolt that struck the alien just below its neck. Richard whipped his head back forward just in time to spot a third beam cannon blast being fired from somewhere in the asteroids ahead of him, and then a bright flash from behind his Nightmare announced the large type Vajra's demise.

"Raptor, break left!" a female voice commanded. "Switch to Battroid mode and use your shields!"

Richard wasted no time in complying with the voice's orders, yanking back his flight stick and then initiating the transformation from Fighter mode to Battroid mode. Spinning about as his Nightmare shifted forms, he caught a brief glimpse of blue tracers and explosions as a barrage of cannon shells with their fuses set to proximity mode ripped through the midst of the Vajra missiles that were pursuing him, then raised his valkyrie's arm mounted shields and hoped for the best as he projected a pinpoint barrier over them.

The first of the incoming missiles slammed into the pinpoint barrier and detonated in a spectacular fashion, obscuring Richard's vision as it did so. It was soon followed by several other Vajra warheads, at least some of which passed directly through the fiery cloud left behind by the missiles the cannon shells had destroyed. There were quite a few warheads left in spite of the damage those shells had done, and Richard feared his pin point barrier might be overwhelmed by their onslaught. The glowing green shield held fast however, refusing to give in to the bombardment even after being hit nearly a dozen times.

The after-effects of the missile blasts began to fade, and as they did so Richard caught sight of a small type Vajra that was approaching his Battroid at high speed. Realising that he didn't have enough time to shift into Fighter mode and get away, he turned to face the new threat, hoping he could somehow fight it off with just his valkyrie's fists and point defence weaponry. He was just about to lock on to his target when a burst of beam gun fire streaked in from behind him and struck the incoming drone, causing it to explode.

More beam gun fire shot past Richard's battroid, and then an enormous white object sailed by, propelled by two brightly glowing streams of blue engine exhaust. The white object had a sleek, generally humanoid form with slender limbs and bulky shoulders, and Richard identified it almost immediately as a Queadluun type battle suit –specifically a Queadluun-Rhea since the anti capital ship beam cannon it had mounted on its right shoulder meant it couldn't be one of the older Queadluun-Raus.

The protective coverings that shielded the white Queadluun's shoulder mounted ordinance bays slid open, and a huge volley of micro missiles poured out, their exhaust contrails giving the impression of a pair of great wings being spread as they sprang forth. Shifting direction once they had reached a certain distance, the tiny warheads selected their targets from among the incoming group of Vajra and fell upon the aliens en masse, forcing them to break formation and scatter in order to have even a chance of survival. Meanwhile the Queadluun's pilot began to lay about the surrounding area with every weapon her machine possessed, using rotary cannons, beam guns, and even the shoulder mounted anti capital ship beam cannon to great effect as she singlehandedly scattered the enemy swarm.

Richard watched her in awe. This, he realised, was a true ace pilot. Whoever was piloting that Queadluun wasn't a pilot who just happened to score five kills through luck the way he had. She was a pilot who could change the tide of a battle -the kind who could be trusted to find a path to victory even when the odds were against her.

Realising that his staring was contributing absolutely nothing to the other pilot's struggle, Richard did a quick visual scan of the surrounding area and spotted a small type drone as it attempted to position itself for an attack on the white Queadluun. Painting the drone with his eyes, he locked on to it with his Nightmare's targeting computer and opened fire with his point defence guns. The hits he scored on the alien with his salvo didn't actually do very much damage, but they did do a good job of getting its attention. Concentrating his Nightmare's pin point barrier on its right fist as the drone shifted direction and darted towards him, Richard lunged forward just as the insect raised its flagellum. He somehow managed to intercept the incoming strike with the shield on his valkyrie's left arm, but failed to make his own attack connect, resulting in his opponent being able to slip past him.

"Damnit," he growled as he spun around, hoping for a chance to do some damage with his point defence guns before his opponent could come around and get back into melee range. That hope was dashed a moment later when a single heavy beam cannon shot slammed into the drone and blew it apart.

"Banshee Six to Raptor One-One. Stay close to me," an unusually young sounding female pilot ordered as a black painted Queadluun came into view. Richard felt a faint surge of resentment towards the newcomer for taking out his target, but knew he was extremely lucky to have been able to block that flagellum attack. It appeared his close quarters combat skills could use some work.

"Roger that," he acknowledged as he switched over to GERWALK mode. His Nightmare wasn't as durable in that mode as it was in Battroid mode but at least it gave him access to the machine's beam cannons rather than just the weaker point defence guns. He really didn't want to get into another melee fight if he could avoid it.

Turning to check on how the pilot of the white Queadluun was doing, Richard saw that she had already succeeded in driving off the bulk of the attacking Vajra. It looked like he might finally get a chance to catch his breath.

"Banshee Five to Raptor One-One," the white Queadluun's pilot hailed. Richard immediately recognised her voice as the one that had ordered him to break left earlier, which meant that she was most likely the one who had destroyed the missiles and the large type Vajra. "We're going to start falling back towards where the rest of our forces are. I want you to stick close to my wingman while I cover the two of you. No running off on your own this time –I'm very low on ammunition and from the looks of things you are as well."

Richard nodded, then gave a start as he realised he had forgotten something important.

"I copy that, Banshee Five, but what about my wingman?"

"The rest of my flight is with him. They confirmed that he's safe. We're the ones who are in the most danger at the moment."

Richard blinked for a moment, then sighed in relief. He was glad the Queadluun pilot was so on top of things.

"Thank you."

"Don't thank me until we've rejoined the main group. Just follow my wingman. "

"Yes ma'am."

Richard oriented his Nightmare so that it was pointed in the same direction as the black painted Queadluun, then shifted into Fighter mode and prepared to follow the other machine's lead. It began to pull away, and he moved to follow it, but before he did so he took a brief moment to glance back at the white Queadluun that had saved his life. He didn't know who exactly was in that machine, but whomever she was she had some truly amazing skills.

_I owe you one_, Richard silently thanked the other pilot as he turned his attention back to his flying. He might have made ace status just a few minutes before, but at that moment pride in his accomplishments was the last thing on his mind. He might technically be an ace, but at that moment he definitely didn't feel like one.

Richard let out a sigh as he followed the black Queadluun towards the rendezvous with the rest of its squadron. He was going to have a lot to think about on the flight home.


	5. Chapter Four

Chapter Four

It was a tradition in Raptor Squadron that a pilot who had just achieved something notable, such as scoring his first kill or getting promoted, was allowed to choose which bar the squadron would celebrate the event at. Therefore when it came time to celebrate Richard's achievement of ace status he chose to celebrate at a bar on Island One called the Green Hydra. He claimed this was because the Green Hydra served particularly good food. In reality however his decision had as much to do with the bar's clientele as anything else. While the Hydra was by no means unknown among the fleet's pilots it generally wasn't one of their favourite hangouts. This meant two things. One was that Richard wouldn't have to worry about the entire bar insisting on buying him drinks, an important consideration given his small size and the low alcohol tolerance he had as a result. The second was that a bar where there was a low chance of finding pilots also meant a bar where there was a low chance of finding girls who were there because they wanted to sleep with a pilot, a phenomenon that had become much more common since the Frontier Fleet had begun fighting the Vajra. Richard was by no means disinterested in the opposite sex, but he'd found that girls who were interested in him solely because he happened to fly valkyries generally did not make for very good company. Which was kind of ironic considering that his teenage ace pilot fantasies had often included a girl falling for him because of his heroic piloting skills. Then again, his teenage fantasies had generally involved him meeting said girl when he rescued her from rogue Zentraedi, not in some seedy bar that the other pilots in his squadron had dragged him out to.

The completion of C Flight's mission earlier in the day had occurred just hours before the squadron as a whole had come off the alert phase of their rotation, and as such the entire unit was supposed to show up for the celebration. Even Lieutenant Hunter had agreed to drop by and buy Richard a drink at some point during the evening, a rather significant gesture for a man who was eager to spend time with his wife and his four month old son. For the time being however the only members of the squadron who were present at the Green Hydra were the so called "Three Musketeers" of C Flight -Richard, Tristan, and Ensign Marcus Zhao. Marcus –or "Mark" as he preferred to be called- was Lieutenant Hunter's wingman, a big half-Zentraedi pilot with black hair, green eyes, and a bronze skin tone. He wasn't quite as tall or as stocky as Tristan was, but he was still a lot taller than Richard. Spending time around the two of them really reminded Richard of just how short he was, especially when he had one sitting on either side of him as he did right then.

Feeling his stomach growl, Richard placed his menu on the countertop in front of him and placed an order for a large hamburger platter. He suspected he was going to end up being completely smashed by the end of the evening no matter what he did, but he was going to at least _try_ to avoid such a fate. He really didn't like hangovers.

A strange, sultry sounding song began to play over the bar's sound system as Richard waited for his order to arrive. It seemed very familiar, but it took him a while to figure out why. It was an old Sharon Apple song, one that he'd heard a few times while growing up. He couldn't remember the name of it, but there was something about a borderline in its chorus. He wasn't sure why whoever selected the bar's music had chosen such a song. Maybe they wanted a break from the Sheryl Nome music that everyone else on Island One seemed to be playing lately. Richard could certainly understand that sentiment –he actually liked most of Sheryl's music, but that didn't mean he wanted to hear it everywhere he went.

The dreamy sounding music continued to play, and as it did so Richard found himself thinking back to the mission he'd flown earlier that day. Particularly the part of it where he'd nearly been killed. The sight of the white Queadluun single handedly driving off the Vajra swarm had left such a strong impression on him that it was impossible to get it out of his mind.

A tap on Richard's shoulder jolted him back to reality.

"What's with the long face?" Tristan asked. Richard blinked in confusion as he looked at his wingman.

"Pardon?" he enquired. He hadn't realised he'd been spacing out like that. It probably had something to do with the song that had been playing.

"I asked what the long face was for," Tristan repeated. "We're about to celebrate your making ace status. I would have thought you'd be happy about that."

"I am."

"Then why were you looking so down just now?"

"Well…" Richard hesitated for a moment before continuing. "I'm not sure I deserve it."

Tristan's eyebrows rose.

"Deserve it?" he asked incredulously. "Richard, you scored six confirmed kills today. Allow me to repeat that. You scored _six_ confirmed kills, half of them large types, and in all likelihood you probably destroyed three or four other drones that we weren't able to confirm with those micro missiles you fired. If all that doesn't make you an ace pilot I'm not sure what _can_."

Richard shook his head.

"It's not the number of kills I got that's the problem. It's the fact that I nearly got both of us killed that's the problem. If it wasn't for the pilot of that white Queadluun neither of us would be here right now."

Tristan shrugged.

"Maybe so, but I don't think you're giving yourself enough credit. Even if the pilot of that white Queadluun saved your life you still had to survive long enough for her to get to you. That's pretty impressive when you have a swarm of Vajra chasing after you."

"Not compared to single handedly repulsing the same swarm of Vajra it isn't. Trust me on this Tristan. Whoever the pilot of that White Queadluun is she's _way_ above our level."

It was at that point that Mark –who was normally the quietest and most taciturn member of the trio –decided to speak up.

"A white Queadluun. Are you two talking about the Angel?" the half-Zentraedi pilot asked. Richard and Tristan looked over at their colleague in surprise.

"The Angel?" Richard enquired. Mark nodded his head.

"Yes. The Angel. She's an ace pilot from Banshee Squadron that flies a white Queadluun. You've never heard of her?"

Richard shook his head.

"Not until today."

"That's surprising. I've been hearing quite a bit about her since the Banshees transferred over from the Arcturus a few months ago."

"Things have been rather busy since then," Richard noted wryly, earning a quiet chuckle from Mark.

"True," the other pilot agreed. "And I suppose I should also take into account that she earned her nickname a good year or so before any of us entered active service."

"Why, what did she do?" Tristan asked.

"You remember that encounter the fleet had with a group of hostile Meltrandi about three years ago?" Mark asked. Richard and Tristan both nodded. All three pilots had been cadets in their final year at the academy at the time, and there had been talk that they and their classmates might be pressed into service in reserve squadrons if the situation escalated. Thankfully that incident -like most of the rest of the Frontier Fleet's encounters with hostile groups of Zentraedi- had remained relatively small in scale.

"Her squadron was involved in that. They were doing asteroid field reconnaissance when the flight she was part of got ambushed by a large group of Queadluun-Raus. " Mark shrugged. "I don't know many details about what happened other than the fact her flight leader's Queadluun was severely damaged in the initial attack. But apparently the Angel brought everyone home alive and scored enough kills to go from rookie to ace in the process."

Tristan looked at Mark with an incredulous expression.

"Wait, you're telling me she took out five Queadluuns? In one mission?"

Mark nodded.

"That's what I've been told."

Tristan snorted.

"No offense Mark, but I think that story you heard has been embellished a little somewhere along the line."

Richard was inclined to agree with Tristan's assessment. The New UN Spacy's Queadluun-Rhea was a much better machine than the Meltrandi Queadluun-Rau upon which it was based, but it wasn't _that_ much better. A Rhea pilot would have to be either insanely good or insanely lucky to be able to defeat five Raus in one mission, especially if they were a rookie.

Then Richard remembered the fight between the white Queadluun-Rhea and the swarm of Vajra that had been chasing him. All of a sudden Mark's story didn't seem quite so far-fetched.

"I'd be careful about assuming that Tristan. There were between half a dozen and a dozen Vajra chasing after my Nightmare, and that pilot managed to drive them off almost single-handedly. Compared to that destroying five Raus over the course of a single mission isn't really all that far-fetched."

"Especially for a pilot from Banshee Squadron," Mark added. "They're considered one of the best fighter squadrons in the fleet for a reason."

Tristan shrugged.

"Well I suppose I can give her the benefit of the doubt. Especially since she and her comrades probably saved our lives." Suddenly Tristan's eyes widened. "Hey, I just got a great idea!"

Richard grimaced a little. Some of Tristan's great ideas were indeed great, but just as many of them were anything but. His suggestion that they celebrate Lieutenant Hunter's getting married by kidnapping him and dragging him out to a strip club came to mind as but one of many examples of the bad ideas he'd had. Thankfully the rest of the squadron had vetoed that one.

"This Banshee squadron –the pilots in it are all Meltrans, right?"

Richard nodded.

"I'm pretty sure that's the case."

"It is," Mark confirmed. Tristan nodded vigorously.

"Then why don't we invite them out for dinner? "

"The whole squadron?"

"No, just the Angel and her flight. The ones who saved our lives."

"Don't you mean _your_ lives?" Mark asked pointedly. Tristan waved his hand.

"Let's not get caught up in the minor details. We've got a really good chance to meet some girls here."

Richard sighed. He should have known it would be something like that. This was Tristan they were dealing with after all.

"I think I'll pass."

"But Richard, aren't you the one who owes those pilots the most of any of us? Don't you think they deserve some kind of thanks for their efforts? What about the Angel? Didn't you say you probably wouldn't be here if it wasn't for her?" Tristan paused for a moment as Richard grimaced. It was clear to him that his words were having an effect. "Just think about it Richard. This poor Meltran is always doing her best, always saving other pilot's lives, but they all take her efforts for granted. Imagine how that must feel. She tries her hardest yet everyone thinks it must be easy for her." He sighed dramatically. "I'll bet she's really a very kind, gentle girl. Deep down inside all she wants is for someone to recognise her efforts and tell her how special she is. Think about that Richard –all you need to do is thank her for her efforts and her heart will be yours forever."

Richard made a sound that somehow managed to combine a snort with a laugh.

"Yeah right."

Still, Tristan had a point. He owed the Angel his life, and he should probably thank her for saving it. He sighed.

"You're right though. I really _do_ owe those pilots."

"So you'll go along with my idea then?" Tristan asked. Richard just nodded. "Excellent. We'll track down this Angel and invite her and her comrades out for a nice dinner." He laughed. "Maybe this'll be your chance to find that Meltran girlfriend we'd talked about a couple days ago. A Meltrandi pilot probably wouldn't mind valkyrie models, and in a group of four you ought to be able to find at least one who doesn't have green hair."

"The Angel is supposed to have white hair," Mark noted. "I think that's part of the reason she got that nickname."

Tristan gave Richard a slap to the back that made the smaller pilot wince.

"You see? Everything's working out just fine. So no more long faces, okay? We'll be making up for our foolishness with that dinner, so for tonight we just need to put aside our regrets and celebrate. You got that?"

Richard nodded. He actually did feel better after agreeing to the dinner idea. Trust one of Tristan's crazy schemes to keep him from focusing on his regrets.

"Yeah, I've got it."

It was at that moment that the door to the bar opened and a group of men in pale blue service uniforms walked in. Tristan raised his hand and waved to them.

"Over here!" he called. One of the men waved back, and the group as a whole began to make their way over to where The Three Musketeers were seated. Richard smiled as they crowded around him and began to offer their congratulations for his achievement.

Tristan was right. He might have made a mistake, but he would make up for it and learn from the experience. For tonight he was going to put that aside and celebrate. Even if he still didn't think he deserved the praise he was getting he could at least celebrate the fact he'd made it through his latest mission alive.

He just hoped he didn't end up with a hangover in the morning.

XXXXX

With Mark's help it took Tristan less than forty-eight hours to get a solid lead on the Angel.

"Now remember, we're looking for a tall, dark skinned Meltran with white hair," Tristan noted as he led Richard and Mark down a corridor towards Battle Frontier's Number Three Mess Hall. Due to its large size Battle Frontier had many different mess halls that served many different parts of the vessel's crew. Mess Hall Number Three was one of the ones that was designated to serve pilots.

Following along behind Tristan, Richard was surprised by just how quickly his wingman had managed to track down their objective. Then again, it probably seemed quicker to him because he hadn't even remembered anything about "Operation Dinner Date" until just before lunch time the previous day. He'd ended up with a rather nasty hangover after the party his squadron had thrown for him. That and some rather strange dreams. Apparently Sharon Apple music and alcohol were not meant to be consumed together.

Richard and Mark followed Tristan into the mess hall, and all three pilots began scanning nearby tables for Meltrans who matched the description they had been given. According to one of Tristan's contacts the Angel and her flight generally ate dinner at about nineteen hundred hours. Of course the fact that they generally ate dinner around that time was no guarantee they would be doing so on that particular day. Set meal times were not a luxury afforded to active duty fighter pilots. Richard had actually suggested that they should send the Angel a message rather than wasting time trying to track her down, but Tristan was adamant that their dinner invitation had to be delivered in person.

"I think that's her," Mark noted as the trio of pilots made their way down one of the corridors that divided the mess hall's cafeteria style dining tables. Richard glanced over towards where the other pilot was looking and saw four blue-uniformed Meltrans sitting at a table next to one of the mess hall's viewports. The nearest one was a pleasant looking ensign with red eyes and medium length blue hair. She was seated next to an extremely pretty redhead who wore her hair in long braid. Across the table from them was a very young ensign with short green hair and blue eyes, and next to that young ensign was a white haired Flight Lieutenant who could only be the Angel.

"Yeah, that looks like her all right," Tristan agreed, then shook his head. "Damnit Mark, you never mentioned that she was _hot_."

Richard let out a long sigh. He should have known the first thing Tristan would notice about the Angel would have something to do with her looks. Not that Richard didn't find her attractive as well, in fact he thought she was quite striking. Her combination of a tall and slender build, deep brown skin, long white hair, and golden eyes made her both beautiful and distinctive. But it did not make him forget who she was. She was a fellow pilot who had saved his life, not some girl on a pin up poster.

"Don't forget why we're here for," he chided his wingman.

"Don't worry, I haven't forgotten why we're here," Tristan assured him. "I'm just taking a moment to admire our lovely heroines. It's disrespectful not to notice the fact that a pretty girl is pretty, after all, and these girls are all pretty, especially that redhead."

One of the pilots at the table next to them snickered, presumably in response to a comment one of his dining companions had made.

"Yes she is pretty, so why don't we go over there and actually talk to her?" Richard suggested, placing his hands on Tristan's back and giving the other pilot a nudge in the right direction as he did so. For some reason all four of the pilots at the table next to them were now snickering. Richard supposed it must be over some kind of private joke.

"I was just about to do that."

Tristan led Richard and Mark over to the table the four Meltrans were sitting at.

"Excuse me ma'am, but are you Lieutenant Talsha Vliriduul of B Flight, Number Sixty-Four Banshees?"

The white haired Flight Lieutenant turned to face Tristan and nodded her head.

"Yes I am," she replied.

"And are these the members of your Flight?"

"They are."

Tristan made a slight bow.

"Excellent. Please allow me to introduce myself. I am Ensign Tristan Mayer of C Flight, Number Eighty-Seven Raptors, and my companions are Ensign Marcus Zhao and Ensign Richard Long of the same. We wish to express our thanks to the four of you for saving our lives during the battle in Asteroid Field E476."

The Angel nodded.

"I see."

"My companions and I have discussed the matter of how we should express our gratitude and decided we would like to invite your flight to dine with us aboard Island One at some point in the near future."

"Oh ho, what's this?" the red haired Meltran sitting across from the Angel enquired as she leaned forward, her purple eyes sparkling with mischief. "Are you boys trying to score yourselves some dates?"

Richard winced inwardly. He genuinely wished to thank the Angel for saving his life, but with Tristan involved the redhead's words struck closer to the truth than he wanted to admit.

Tristan shook his head.

"No, no. We simply wish to thank you four for saving our lives."

"Mmmm?" The red haired Meltran raised her brows as she leaned back in her chair. "Well that's good to hear. No offence to you three but I'm not really into guys."

Richard could only imagine the magnitude of the wound that had just been inflicted on Tristan's heart, but his wingman managed to avoid showing any sign of the disappointment he must surely have been feeling at that moment.

"Well, there's nothing saying you have to come if you don't want to," Tristan pointed out. The red haired Meltran just grinned at him.

"Who said I didn't want to come? You guys are offering free food here. You think I'm going to eat mass produced mess hall food when I could be eating out at a nice restaurant?"

"Ah, well in that case we'll be glad to have you along."

Tristan's smile was starting to look a little strained, but thankfully only someone who knew him well would be likely to notice that fact.

"Speaking of restaurants , was there a particular one you had in mind?" the blue haired meltran who was sitting next to the redhead asked. Tristan shook his head.

"No. We thought we'd let the four of you choose one."

"Ah, that was nice of you. Have any of you got any ideas?" the blue haired Meltran asked as she turned to her companions.

" Since we're not the ones paying why don't we try one of the really nice places like Chez Timothée?" the redhead suggested, giving the Raptor Squadron pilots a teasing wink as she did so. The blue haired Meltran shook her head.

"We shouldn't be taking advantage of their kindness," she chided her companion. "Besides, I think most of us would prefer something a little more casual. I can just imagine the kind of looks I'd get if I showed up at a place like that in my service uniform."

"There's a nice little Chinese restaurant I sometimes go to called Nyan-Nyan," the green haired ensign suggested. "The prices there are pretty reasonable and the food is really good."

The blue haired Meltran's eyes lit up.

"Ah, that place! Waria and I have been there a couple times. The food there is pretty good." She turned to the redhead. "What do you think, Waria? Are you up for going to Nyan-Nyan?"

Waria just shrugged.

"Sure, I guess so. They've got cute waitresses."

"What about you, Talsha?"

Throughout the exchange the Angel had remained silent, her golden eyes studying the trio from Raptor Squadron. Richard found it difficult to tell what she was thinking.

"I have no objection to the choice of restaurant, but I do have a question. I don't mean to be rude here, but I'm wondering why your Flight Lieutenant doesn't seem to be involved in this."

Richard grimaced a little. Lieutenant Hunter's absence was probably one of the biggest hurdles affecting the legitimacy of his and Tristan's endeavour.

"Ah, that," Tristan noted. "Well in truth it's really Richard and I that owe you four for saving our lives, not the entire flight. Marcus came along because he's a good friend of ours and wanted to show his appreciation for what you did. Our Flight Lieutenant would probably have joined us as well, but he has a wife and a four month old son and we didn't want to bother him. I hope you don't mind."

The Angel shook her head.

"I don't. But I think maybe it's best if I don't come. I wouldn't want my rank to make things awkward for the rest of you. Besides this way there will be an even number of people from each of our flights. There will be one of you for each of my pilots."

"Hey, hey, hey, this isn't some kind of group date we're going on here. There doesn't need to be one of them for every one of us," Waria protested. "Besides, you hang out with us all the time when we're off duty together."

"I know, but we're all part of the same squadron. I think it could get awkward if I accompanied you while you were out with members of another unit. You three should go have fun, I have some things I should be taking care of anyway."

The blue haired ensign began to protest, but the Angel appeared to have made up her mind. Richard felt a sense of failure begin to take hold as he watched his chance start to slip away in front of him. He'd come to this place so that he could thank the Angel for saving his life but it seemed as if she wasn't going to give him an opportunity to do that.

He couldn't let that happen. Slipping past Tristan's intervening bulk without a second thought, Richard stepped up to the Angel's table and took a deep breath.

"Excuse me, Lieutenant," he interrupted. The Angel turned to look at him. "My name is Richard Long. I'm the ensign you saved from a missile swarm and a large type Vajra. I wanted to thank you for doing that. If you hadn't intervened when you did I would be dead right now, and it would be my own fault for being so reckless. I owe you my life, and because of that I feel _obligated_ to express my gratitude. So while it may be somewhat selfish of me to ask anything more of you, please allow me to say this: I would be truly _honoured_ if you were willing to join us."

The Angel studied Richard for several moments, her face impassive as her golden eyes bored deep into his soul. He met her gaze without flinching. This was something important to him, and he needed to convince her that his words were sincere.

Finally the Angel nodded her head.

"Very well Ensign. I accept your invitation."

Tristan let out a low whistle.

"Whoo! Nice one man!"

Richard felt a slight blush begin to rise to his cheeks in response to Tristan's untimely interruption. Thankfully the blue haired Meltran intervened and spared him from further embarrassment.

"So when are you three thinking of doing this?" she asked. Tristan shrugged.

"That depends a bit on what's good for you. Our squadron is going to be back into the alert phase of its rotation in a couple days, but we should be good to go until then."

"Ah. Well, I don't think there's anything on our schedule that would prevent us from doing something in that time frame. Although you should be aware that our squadron often gets called up for special missions. There's a chance we may need to cancel on you at the last minute."

Tristan nodded. Things like that were a fact of life for a wartime fighter pilot.

"I understand."

"With that in mind, I'm going to suggest that we do this as soon as possible so that we can reschedule if something does come up." The blue haired Meltran turned to her flight leader. "How does this time two days from now sound?" she asked. The Angel shrugged.

"I'll have to check with Commander Jelka, but it should be okay."

"And you?" the blue haired ensign asked Tristan.

"Pretty much the same story."

"Alright then. Give me your number and I'll call you sometime tomorrow after we've confirmed things on our end."

Tristan and the blue haired Meltran exchanged numbers, and the Meltran finally stated her name –Mira Soltam. This triggered another round of introductions during which Richard learned that the green haired ensign was named Jarnika Kural and that Waria's full name was Waria Zuruk. The Angel's name he already knew thanks to Mark and Tristan's research.

The introductions concluded, and then it was time to leave the Banshees to their meal. Both groups of pilots said their goodbyes, and Waria joked that the Raptors should "Be sure to bring enough cash. We Meltrans have big appetites!"

Their business complete, the trio of Raptors began to make their way back towards the entrance they had used to come in. Just before they reached it Richard looked back towards the Angel's table. She appeared to be talking to Mira, but glanced his way when he looked at her. Their eyes met, but he still couldn't tell what she was thinking behind those gold coloured orbs.

Turning to face her distant table, Richard raised his hand and gave the Angel a respectful salute before he made his exit.


	6. Chapter Five

Chapter Five

The Nyan-Nyan restaurant located near the edge of Island One's Shibuya District was extremely busy when Richard, Mark, and Tristan arrived there shortly before nineteen hundred hours on the day they had agreed to treat the Banshees to dinner on. In fact it was so busy that the three pilots were almost unable to get a table. Thankfully a large group of personnel from one of Frontier's private military contractors was just in the process of leaving when the Raptor Squadron pilots arrived. Richard actually bumped into one of them -a young woman with VF-25 patches on her jacket whose hair was tied into a ponytail with a piece of red cord- on the way in. He quickly apologized to her but for some reason his "Sorry Miss" just seemed to make her more annoyed. He wasn't quite sure why. Maybe she was having a bad day.

The Banshee squadron pilots arrived a few minutes after the Raptors and were escorted to the table their hosts had secured by a cute if somewhat overly well endowed waitress wearing glasses and a red qipao. Richard and his companions stood up to welcome their guests.

"Hello Lieutenant," Richard hailed as the Angel approached. Like his companions and his guests Richard wore a standard issue New UN Spacy service uniform. However he'd taken extra care to ensure that his appearance was as close to perfection as it could possibly be, even going so far as to take an extra shower shortly before his departure. In fact all three Raptors had taken pains to present an immaculate appearance, though not all of them had done so for the same reasons.

"Hello Ensign," Talsha replied. Richard gestured to the quartet of unoccupied chairs on the Banshees' side of the circular table.

"Please have a seat."

"Thank you."

The Angel and her companions pulled out the proffered chairs and sat down. Talsha chose the rightmost seat on her side, a move that put her in close proximity to Richard who was seated in the leftmost chair on his. Jarnika took the seat directly to Talsha's left. She was followed by Mira and lastly by Waria, who moved her chair over so that it was as close as possible to Mira's. This put her some distance from Mark, who occupied the rightmost seat on the Raptor's side of the table. Despite this Richard got the impression she wasn't so much trying to keep her distance from Mark as she was trying to send a message to the Raptor squadron pilots. Her behaviour reminded him of an animal asserting its claim to a piece of territory.

The waitress poured each of the seven pilots a cup of green tea and placed the pot in the center of the table.

"Can I get you anything to start off with?" she enquired. Richard shook his head. Tristan, Mark, and Waria put in orders for beer, and Talsha asked for a fork.

"I've never quite gotten the hang of chopsticks," she explained.

"Neither have I," Tristan noted, putting up his middle and index fingers to indicate to the waitress that he needed a fork as well. This prompted the waitress to ask the table as a whole whether they wanted forks. Richard and Mark were the only ones who didn't. That was probably because the other diners were worried about getting food on their uniforms. Not everyone had a Chinese grandfather or fine motor skills good enough to do professional grade detail work on small model kits.

The waitress made a small bow, thanked the group, and told them she would be back in a few minutes and that they should give her a wave if they needed anything. Waria smiled as she watched the waitress go.

"We got a really cute one this time," she noted.

"Isn't she a little young for you?" Mira asked pointedly. Waria shrugged.

"For the time being yeah, but give her a few more years and she'll be a very fine looking young woman. Besides, what's the problem with her being cute? Are you jealous by any chance?"

Mira suddenly found the text of her menu to be unusually interesting.

"Our waitress is cute, but I think I prefer that blonde over there," Tristan noted, indicating a tall waitress who was serving another table as he did so. Apparently Waria wasn't the only one who had been paying attention to the restaurant's serving staff.

"She's nice too, but our waitress is cuter. I think it's the glasses. Glasses are sexy."

"Shouldn't we be figuring out what we're going to order?" Mira asked, a trace of annoyance in her voice. Waria laughed.

"Probably," she agreed, then smirked at the Raptor squadron pilots. "I hope you guys remembered what I told you two days ago. I wouldn't want to see you get stuck washing dishes to pay for all of this."

"If you actually order so much they can't pay for it all then I'm going to see to it that you end up helping them wash dishes," Talsha warned her.

"Aw, but I'm a girl," Waria protested. "I've got sensitive skin."

"Then I guess you've got a good reason not to go overboard, don't you?"

The conversation turned to what dishes the group would be ordering. Mira and Waria took a leading role since they had the most experience with the restaurant, but Mark and Jarnika also made some suggestions. Richard, Talsha, and Tristan weren't very familiar with the restaurant or Chinese food in general so they mostly just voiced support for the suggestions they thought sounded good rather than making very many of their own.

The waitress with the glasses soon returned with the group's forks and drinks, then proceeded to take their order. She recorded the dishes they wanted on an electronic notepad, politely thanked them for their business, then bowed and proceeded on to the next table.

"Well if nothing else she's definitely polite," Tristan remarked. Waria nodded.

"Yeah," she agreed, then sighed. "Damn, now I _really_ wish she was a few years older."

A short lull in the conversation occurred as the two groups of pilots settled in to wait for their food. Richard was considering what topics he might be able to use to break the ice when his attention was drawn to a rather flashy looking movie trailer that had begun to play on one of the restaurant's television screens. The trailer in question was for the new "Bird Human" movie that had been filmed on Island Three, and it looked pretty spectacular. Richard was especially impressed by the dogfight sequences.

"I've heard a lot of good things about that movie," he noted once the trailer had finished. "The dogfight scenes are supposed to be pretty amazing."

"I'd heard that too," Mira agreed. "Although I also heard they ran into some serious problems during filming. Apparently one of the lead actresses was injured in a vehicle accident and had to be replaced right before they started."

"Excuse me, but are you talking about the Bird Human movie?" the blonde haired waitress Tristan had taken an interest in asked. She had been making rounds of the tables to check if anyone needed anything and had apparently overheard Richard and Mira's conversation. Richard nodded his head.

"Yeah. I've heard it's supposed to be really good."

The waitress nodded enthusiastically.

"It is. I've seen it twice already. Did you know the girl who plays Mao used to work here?"

Richard shook his head.

"No I didn't. Did you know her?"

"Yes, although I didn't know her very well. I only started working here a couple weeks before she left. Nanase knows her better than I do. The two of them go to school together." The blonde haired waitress scanned the surrounding tables until she spotted the waitress with the glasses. "Hey, Nanase!" she called out. The waitress with the glasses looked up from the tea she had been pouring. "When you're done with what you're doing come and tell these people about Ranka!"

The expression on Nanase's face told Richard that she'd heard this request many times already and that her patience was beginning to be worn thin. He waved his hand in a dismissive gesture.

"It's okay, don't worry about it!" he called out. Waria shot him a dirty look, but he failed to notice it.

"So the actress who played Mao in Bird Human used to work here," Richard noted once the blonde waitress had left. "Guess it really is a small galaxy."

Mira just shrugged.

"There's only about ten million people in this colony fleet," she pointed out. "So it's not really all that surprising when you think about it."

"True," Richard acknowledged. "Still, it's not the kind of thing you expect to hear."

"Isn't Ranka Lee also a singer?" Mark asked. Richard thought about it for a moment, then remembered a song he'd heard while walking through Island One's San Francisco District about a week before.

"Oh yeah, she is! She sang that one song… what's it called again? It goes something like this."

He tried humming a few bars.

"That's Cat's Diary," Mark told him. "It's not bad, but she also has one called Interstellar Flight that's even better."

"I'll have to check that one out then. I really liked Cat's Diary. It was a nice change from all the Sheryl Nome music that's been playing recently."

"You don't like Sheryl Nome?"

Richard shook his head.

"It's not that I don't like her, it's just that I've been hearing her music way too much recently. That, and Sheryl herself just comes across as really commercialised to me. Ranka seems much more genuine."

Richard's words provoked an immediate reaction from Jarnika.

"Sheryl may be heavily commercialised, but that doesn't mean she's not passionate about her singing," the young ensign protested. "Have you ever seen her during one of her live performances? You can tell she's putting everything she has into what she's doing. She wouldn't be able to sing the way she does if she didn't."

Richard shrugged.

"Maybe, but I'm still not that impressed by her music. I'd much rather listen to Cat's Diary than Sagittarius Nine PM."

"Sagittarius Nine PM isn't one of Sheryl's best songs, it's just the most popular one. If you want to hear her at her best you should listen to Diamond Crevasse or Infinity. Those are much better examples of what she's capable of."

"Now, now, you two, there's no need to get so worked up about this," Mira chastised her fellow diners.

"Besides, it's obvious which one's better," Tristan informed them. Mira raised a brow.

"Oh?" she enquired.

"Yeah. Sheryl is obviously better. Because she's hot."

Richard and Jarnika both glared daggers at Tristan, but Waria reached across the table and offered him a high five.

"Now _that_ I can agree with you on. I would _totally_ do Sheryl if I got the chance."

"You and a couple million of her fanboys," Talsha noted in amusement. Waria smirked at her.

"You're one to talk. Didn't you once claim you wanted to have Nekki Basara's child?"

Talsha shrugged.

"Yeah, but I was a teenage fangirl at the time. Teenage fangirls say things like that."

"I take it you were a big Fire Bomber fan growing up?" Richard asked. The Angel nodded.

"Big would be an understatement. I wasn't a big Fire Bomber fan. I was a _huge_ Fire Bomber fan. I even went and taught myself how to play guitar so I could play their songs."

"She's actually pretty good at it too. You should hear her play Planet Dance sometime," Waria noted. Talsha shook her head.

"I may be pretty good now, but I certainly wasn't very good when I first started. I'm actually surprised my parents _let_ me teach myself how to play the guitar the way I did. I sounded absolutely terrible. It's a miracle the neighbours didn't complain_._"

"I think your parents just didn't want to pay for you to take lessons," Waria teased. Talsha laughed.

"You might actually be right about that. But yeah… I was _obsessed_ with Fire Bomber when I was in my teens. I even dyed my hair pink in imitation of Mylene Jenius."

Waria nodded.

"I have pictures of that on my phone if you guys want to see them," she informed the Raptors. Talsha's eyes widened in shock.

"What? Waria, I brought those pictures so that the pilots in our squadron would have a chance to see them. You weren't supposed to make copies!"

"Aw, but you look so cute in those pictures! C'mon Talsha, they're not _that_ embarrassing!"

The Angel let out a long sigh.

"All right, fine. You can show them the pictures. But you'd better not send them any copies."

"Don't worry, you have my word," Waria promised as she dug out her phone and began to search through a series of picture collections using its holographic display.

"Ah, here we are."

She passed the phone to Richard, who took it and examined the picture it was displaying. The picture showed a much younger version of Talsha, a cheerful looking teenage girl with long pink hair who was dressed in an orange and white school uniform with a brown skirt. She was a far cry from the serious looking white haired flight lieutenant who was sitting across the table from him in her smartly pressed service uniform. Nevertheless Richard could tell they were the same person. They had the same long straight hair, the same deep brown skin tone, the same elf-like ears, and most importantly the same gold coloured eyes, even if the ones in the picture were much more cheerful.

Richard began to flip through the collection of photographs. They showed the youthful Angel both alone and with friends, in casual clothes and in her school uniform. A few even showed her standing on a stage in a replica of Mylene Jenius' trademark outfit, an electric guitar slung across her chest.

"Wow, you even had a replica of Mylene's stage outfit," he noted. Talsha nodded.

"Yeah, I had that done up for a school talent show. I'm actually kind of surprised the teachers let me wear it. Especially since I filled out a fair bit between when I got it and when I actually performed in it. It was… uncomfortably tight."

"Ah."

Richard finished looking through the pictures and passed Waria's phone to Tristan.

"Thanks," his wingman told him as he took the device and began to look through the set of pictures himself. "By the way Richard, you really ought to show our guests _your_ phone."

Richard laughed.

"Yeah, I guess I should shouldn't I?"

He reached into his pocket and took out a small, vaguely humanoid object with a white, red and blue colour scheme, then placed it in the center of the table. The Banshee squadron pilots studied it for several moments.

"A VF-1A in battroid mode?" Mira asked finally. Richard grinned.

"Watch this," he instructed as he reached out, picked up the phone, and pressed down on the right side of its torso. Almost immediately parts of the phone started to shift position, and a moment later Richard was holding a replica of a VF-1A in Fighter mode. Another quick press and a holographic display appeared above its dorsal surface.

"The rudders can fold down for when you want to hold it close to your ear," he noted. "And this is speaker phone."

He gave the valkyrie-like phone's dorsal surface another press, and its arms and legs reappeared as it took on the appearance of a VF-1A in GERWALK mode. Grinning widely, he placed it on the table.

"What do you think?" he asked. Waria shook her head.

"That is the most ridiculously impractical thing I have ever seen. Where can I get one?"

Richard laughed.

"There's a little place a few blocks from here that sells them. They're really expensive but on the plus side they let you choose your own paint job. Mine is done up to look like one of the fighters used by the Angel Birds. They were an aerial demonstration squadron that flew at the SDF-1's launch ceremony just prior to the start of Space War I."

"Heh. That's pretty cool."

The group's waitress reappeared carrying a large bowl of soup.

"Here's your wonton noodle soup," she informed them, then blinked as she noticed Richard's phone sitting on the table. Richard quickly reached over and removed it, taking a moment to put it back into "Battroid" form before stuffing it back into his pocket. He didn't think the waitress was likely to spill anything on it, but given how expensive the device was he wasn't about to take any chances.

"It looks good," he remarked as the waitress began ladling the soup into bowls.

"I'll be right back with the spring rolls and tuna buns," she informed them when she was finished. Richard said a quick thank you then dove right in.

The rest of the dinner passed by uneventfully. The food was good and there was a steady flow of conversation, so in general Richard felt the event could be considered a success. He wished he'd had a chance to learn more about Talsha however. The pictures of the Angel as a teenager had made him curious about her background, but she didn't seem to want to talk about her past very much.

It was shortly after twenty one hundred hours by the time the diners had paid their bill and left the restaurant. By that time it had gotten rather dark outside.

"Thank you very much for the excellent dinner you three," Talsha thanked the Raptors as she and her flight stood near the edge of the busy sidewalk. "We appreciate your hospitality."

"Yeah, we'll be sure to save you guys again the next time you get yourselves in trouble," Waria teased, earning herself an elbow in the ribs from Mira. Tristan made a slight bow.

"It was the least we could do for you ladies after what you did for us," he told them. Richard nodded in agreement even thought he doubted his wingman was being very sincere.

"So I guess we hail a taxi and head back now?" Mira asked. Talsha shook her head.

"You three go on ahead," she informed her pilots. "I'd like to take a little walk before I head back."

"Ah, I'll come with you," Richard offered. Talsha turned to face him.

"That's nice of you Ensign, but why?"

Richard shrugged.

"Well it's kind of dark out right now," he pointed out. Talsha gave him an amused look.

"No offense, Ensign, but I think it's worth pointing out that I'm a good half foot or so taller than you are. If either of us needs an escort to take a walk late at night I think it's probably you, not me."

Richard chuckled nervously.

"True," he admitted.

"That being said, I wouldn't mind a little company if you feel like coming."

Richard blinked.

"Uh… sure," he agreed. A quick glance at Talsha's companions made it clear that they were just as surprised by her offer as Richard himself was. Apparently this was unusual behaviour for the Angel.

"I'll be back in an hour or two. You three behave yourselves while I'm gone," Talsha teased her subordinates as she prepared to take her leave. Richard glanced over at Mark and Tristan and received a grin and a thumbs up sign from the latter. For some reason that didn't surprise him.

"So where were you thinking of going?" he asked Talsha as Mira flagged a passing taxi. Talsha shrugged.

"I was thinking Griffith Park. It's pretty quiet around this time of night, and since we're near the edge of the San Francisco District we can catch a trolley there pretty easily."

Richard nodded.

"That sounds good to me," he agreed.

The two pilots finished saying goodbye to their comrades, then headed towards the San Francisco District to catch a trolley to Griffith Park.


	7. Chapter Six

Chapter Six

Island One's Shibuya district was among the most popular business and entertainment areas in the Frontier fleet. Even late at night its streets were alive with large numbers of vehicles and pedestrians, above whose heads huge televisions and holographic screens displayed an almost bewildering array of television programs and advertisements. There was no such thing as "peace and quiet" in the Shibuya District. It was a place that never slept, not even in the wee hours of the morning.

Richard and Talsha did not speak to each other as they weaved their way through the throngs of pedestrians on the district's busy sidewalks. Neither one felt like trying to compete with the background noise produced by passing cars, groups of pedestrians, and the advertisements that were playing high above their heads. Richard noticed that the number of advertisements featuring Sheryl Nome seemed to have decreased somewhat since the last time he had taken a walk through one of Island One's commercial centres. He found that something of a relief.

As if summoned by his thoughts, the opening to Ranka Lee's Cat's Diary began to play on the audio system of a nearby display screen. Richard smiled a little as he listened to it. It was a silly little song with lyrics that didn't make very much sense, but he liked it anyway. As did many of the couples that were strolling down the street if their reactions to it were any sort of indication. Richard noticed that a lot of them seemed to smile and move closer to each other as they passed the display that was playing the song. It was quite cute to watch.

It was also around that time that Richard noticed that he and Talsha were getting a fair bit of attention from the people they were passing by, and it dawned on him that perhaps those people thought the two of them were a couple as well. The idea almost made him burst out laughing. Surely people weren't naïve enough to think a man and a woman were a couple just because they were out walking together! Especially not when they were both wearing service uniforms. Then again the two of them _were_ alone together and obviously _weren't _on official business so he supposed he could see why people might jump to the wrong conclusions. Especially since the massive height difference between him and Talsha probably made the two of them look rather cute together.

Eventually the two of them crossed over into the San Francisco district and boarded one of the trolleys that particular district was famous for. Since it was late at night the trolley was relatively empty and became even more empty as it climbed higher and higher into the hills. Richard noticed that Talsha seemed lost in thought as she gazed at the passing scenery.

"Do you come up here very often?" he asked. Talsha nodded.

"I used to ride this trolley every day on my way to school," she informed him.

"Ah."

That probably meant she'd gone to Mihoshi Academy. It was located near Griffith Park and was well known for its excellent pilot training program. It wouldn't surprise Richard to learn that the Angel had found her wings there.

The trolley Richard and Talsha were riding reached the end of its route and clanked to a stop atop a wooden turntable. Rising from their seats, the pair of pilots made their way to the rear of the car and disembarked along with the other remaining passengers. They then began to make their way towards Griffith Park.

Griffith Park was very dark at night. Aside from some lamps in the area surrounding its landmark observatory there were almost no lights to be found on its grounds. The various footpaths that ran through it were illuminated only by light pollution from the nearby city and by the starlight that filtered in through the roof of Island One's dome. Fortunately that was enough light for a person with good eyesight to be able to see where they were going.

Talsha did not speak for several minutes following her arrival at the park. Instead she led the way along a dark footpath that seemed to be heading towards the observatory. Richard wondered if he should try to say something. He didn't feel entirely comfortable trying to start a conversation but he also wasn't very comfortable with the idea of remaining silent for much longer. He was just about to open his mouth when his companion finally spoke.

"Do you mind if I ask you a question, Ensign?" she asked. Richard glanced over at her in surprise, but couldn't see her face because it was dark and she wasn't looking in his direction. The only part of her he could see clearly was her hair.

"Go ahead," he told her.

"What made you decide to become a fighter pilot?"

Richard shrugged. That wasn't a difficult question for him.

"I thought it would be cool," he told her. "I've been a fan of valkyries since I was a kid. I think I watched too many movies growing up."

Talsha nodded her head.

"I see."

"Why, what about you?"

Talsha sighed.

"In my case it was largely a matter of family tradition. Both of my parents were fighter pilots. So were all of my grandparents. They were members of the Zentraedi and Meltrandi fighter groups that fought alongside the SDF-1 during the Battle of Earth."

On the surface Talsha's words seemed like a simple statement of fact, but to Richard they hinted at something else. Something that might allow him to understand the mystery that was the Angel of Number Sixty-Four Squadron.

"Did you not want to become a fighter pilot?" he asked. Talsha seemed to hesitate for a moment before answering.

"No. Not really."

"Then why did you become one? Did your parents force you to?"

A wave of movement ran through Talsha's hair as she shook her head.

"No. Not directly anyway. It's… complicated. I guess the best way to put it would be to say that it was my own decision, but that I did it for my mother's sake."

"What do you mean by that?" Richard asked. Normally he wouldn't have pressed the issue, but Talsha _had_ asked him why he became a pilot first, and the manner in which she had done so combined with the answers she was giving to his questions told him that she had done so because something was bothering her.

Talsha let out a sigh.

"To understand that you're going to need to understand some things about my mother," she told him. Raising her head, she gazed up at the stars as she continued. "My mother comes from a family with a strong military tradition. Both her parents were exceptional fighter pilots, particularly her mother. Her mother was one of the aces Millia Fallyna selected to be part of the Queadluun group she commanded."

Richard whistled softly. The Queadluun-Rau pilots that flew under Millia Fallyna's commanded had been chosen from among the best in the Laplamiz Fleet. Space War I's most famous Meltran ace had expected nothing less than perfection from those who flew with her.

"I guess I can see where you got your flying skills from," he commented. Talsha didn't reply to his statement, choosing instead to continue with her narration.

"My grandparents were very quick to adopt human ways after the war, and were among the first Zentraedi to get married and have children. But they still thought of themselves as warriors. My mother was raised believing it was her destiny to be a fighter pilot and that she should strive to be just as good as her parents."

"Those are pretty high expectations."

"They were, but my mother was capable of meeting them, and perhaps more importantly she also _wanted_ to meet them. So she enrolled in the UN Spacy's Flight Academy and learned to pilot valkyries. She graduated at the top of her class and was assigned to the 521st Reapers, an elite squadron that had just received the new VF-11 Thunderbolt. Everything seemed set for her to have an extremely successful career."

"So what went wrong?" Richard asked. Talsha let out another sigh.

"She was injured in a training accident. It wasn't anything life threatening -just some damage to her retinas- but it was enough to render her unfit for duty. She had to go through extensive reconstructive treatments to repair the damage, and of course the doctors weren't about to certify her as being fit to fly again until after they were sure everything had healed completely. You don't take chances with a pilot's eyesight."

"No you don't," Richard agreed. For all the sophisticated sensors that modern aerospace craft possessed the ancient Mark One Eyeball was still one of a pilot's most critical resources.

"Anyhow, my mother's injury acted as a catalyst for her relationship with my father. The two of them were already good friends even before her accident, but they became much more than that afterwards. My father made a point of going to see my mother at every available opportunity while she was in hospital, and shortly after she was released he took things a step further and proposed to her."

"Given that you're here, I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that she accepted," Richard joked. Talsha nodded.

"She did, and it was after that when things started to go off track. My mother didn't intend for her marriage to change her plans very much at that point. She was planning to return to active duty as soon as the doctors certified her as being fit to fly. But she and my dad got a bit careless, and that's where I entered the picture." Talsha ceased looking at the stars and lowered her head. "You can't be an active duty fighter pilot and take care of a child at the same time. My parents knew that keeping me meant that one of them would have to give up their flying career. My mother decided it would be her." She exhaled slowly. "My mother has always portrayed what happened back then as a stroke of good fortune. There was a time in my teens just after I figured all of this out where I went to talk to her about what happened. She told me that I meant more to her than being a fighter pilot ever did and that she didn't regret what had happened for even a moment. But I could tell she was lying. Not about how much she cared about me, but about not having any regrets. She regretted that she'd never been able to live up to her full potential or her parent's expectations."

"And that's why you became a fighter pilot," Richard finished. "You wanted to make your mother happy by being what she couldn't be."

Talsha nodded. The path the two of them were following was starting to get close to the observatory, and Richard was beginning to be able to make out her face in the light that its lamps provided.

"More or less. I actually _did_ consider pursuing other career options. Part of the reason I agreed with my parent's decision to enrol me in Mihoshi Academy was because it offered classes that were relevant to many of the areas I was interested in, not just piloting. But I always did better in the piloting classes than I did in any of the others, and my parents were always prouder of my performance in those classes than they were about my performance in any of the others ones I took. So in the end I just decided to go with the flow and become a pilot."

"I see." Richard hesitated for a moment before asking his next question. "Are you unhappy being a pilot?" he asked. Talsha shook her head.

"I wasn't until recently. If anything I kind of enjoyed it. And truth be told even now it's not so much the piloting that bothers me. It's more the whole "Angel" business. I really don't like it when people call me that."

"Really? I think it's a pretty awesome nickname. If my squadron gave me a nickname it would probably be something awful like Rich Man."

"Rich Man?"

This time it was Richard's turn to sigh.

"You know Richard Bilrer, the big transport tycoon?"

"Yes, he's one of the most successful Zen… oh."

"Yeah… I have the same first name he does. The other pilots in my squadron think it's hilarious to ask me if they can borrow money."

"Ah. I guess I can see why that could get annoying after a while."

The two pilots were now approaching the steps of the observatory, and Richard was finally able to get a good look at his companion's face thanks to the light from the nearby lamps.

"Do you know how I got my nickname, Ensign?" Talsha asked. Richard nodded.

"I know the general story. Three years ago during the run in with that hostile Meltrandi fleet your flight was on a recon mission when they were ambushed by a large group of Queadluun-Raus. They took out your flight leader, but you managed to protect everyone and scored enough kills to become an ace in the process."

Talsha nodded.

"That's essentially correct. My Flight Lieutenant's Queadluun-Rhea was disabled by enemy fire during the initial ambush and then we got swarmed by a much larger group of enemy Queadluun-Raus. Apparently I played a key role in fending them off."

"What do you mean you "apparently" played a key role in fending them off?" Richard asked. Talsha laughed as she began to climb the observatory steps.

"I say I "apparently" played a key role because I barely remember anything about that particular incident. I have a vague recollection of seeing my Flight Lieutenant's Queadluun get hit, but after that I can't remember anything. The footage from my unit's flight recorder is the only proof I have that I ever actually did any of the things the other members of my squadron credit me for."

"Are you serious?"

Talsha nodded, her expression turning sombre as she did so.

"I think I went berserk," she informed Richard. "That's the only explanation I can think of that can explain everything that happened. The things my flight recorder showed, the fact that I couldn't remember any of it afterwards… my going berserk is the only thing I can think of that can explain all that. Thankfully I haven't had anything like that happen to me since that time. I've had a few occasions where I've flown very aggressively in order to defend my comrades, but that's the only time I've ever completely lost it."

The white haired Meltran reached the top of the steps and turned to look out over the city.

"Anyhow, my nickname came about because my Flight Lieutenant felt I'd saved her life and started saying that I was "like a guardian angel" when talking about what happened during that mission. At first it was just her who talked about me like that, but after I flew a few more high risk missions and rescued a few other squadron members from dangerous situations the description began to catch on. From there it was just a matter of shortening "Guardian Angel" to "Angel" and I had my nickname."

"All right, but why do you dislike that nickname so much? That's the part I don't get."

Talsha took a deep breath then slowly let it out, briefly closing her eyes as she did so.

"I dislike that nickname because I dislike having to live up to a myth," she explained. "And that's what the Angel of Number Sixty-Four Squadron is. She's not a real person. She's a myth." The so-called Angel made her way over to one of the observatory's railings and leaned against it before continuing. "Then again maybe I'm just using that as an excuse. No one in my squadron honestly expects me to be able to protect them from everything that could possibly happen out there. The real problem is more that I can't deal with the reality of the situation we're facing. I'm not capable of accepting the possibility that I could lose a comrade. That wasn't a big problem during the conflict with that Meltrandi fleet because that conflict only lasted a little over a week. But this conflict with the Vajra has been dragging on for months and shows no sign of letting up any time soon. I'm really starting to worry that there may come a time when I can't protect everyone, especially now that I have a rookie as my wingman." The fingers of Talsha's right hand began to curl around the railing she was leaning on. "Don't get me wrong. Jarnika is a great pilot. I think she'll probably be better than I am someday. But right now she's still a rookie, and on top of that she's also a kid. I know that she's technically an adult and that I'm only a few years older than she is, but when I look at her she reminds me more of my classmates from high school than she does of any of the other pilots in my squadron."

Talsha's fingers were now wrapped tightly around the railing she was leaning on, her knuckles showing pale even through her dark skin. Without thinking Richard reached out and gently placed his hand on top of hers. Talsha glanced at him in surprise, and he winced as he realised what he had just done.

"Sorry," he apologised as he quickly withdrew his hand. Talsha shook her head.

"It's all right," she told him, then smiled. "Thank you for listening."

Richard shook his head.

"It's the least I can do for you after you risked your life to save mine. I just wish I was able to offer you some advice."

Talsha gave him another smile.

"Don't worry about that too much. Even just being able to talk about this with someone makes me feel a lot better. I don't feel comfortable talking about these kinds of thing with other members of my squadron."

"And you feel comfortable talking about them with some guy you'd never even met until two days ago?" Richard asked. Talsha laughed.

"Let's just say you seem like a very sincere person. When you said you felt a need to pay me back for saving your life I could tell that you meant it."

Richard laughed nervously.

"Ah, I see." He paused for a moment. "Well, I'm just glad I was able to do something to help you out. Feel free to contact me the next time you need someone to talk to about your problems."

Talsha nodded.

"I will. Thank you ensign. You don't know how much this means to me."

Richard shrugged.

"Don't worry about it. I've still got a long way to go before I can consider the debt I owe you to be paid."

Talsha frowned a little at that.

"Just out of curiosity ensign, what exactly do you feel you need to do before you can consider the debt you owe me to be paid?"

Richard shrugged again.

"I don't know exactly. Probably save your life the same way you did mine. Although given the difference in our skill levels there's probably not much chance of that happening any time soon." He laughed. "You saw what happened when I tried to be a hero during the battle in that asteroid field. Great job I did there, huh?"

"Hmmm…" Talsha studied Richard for a moment, a considering look on her face. "Do you want to improve your skills, ensign?" she asked. Richard nodded.

"Of course I do."

"Would you like my help with that?"

Richard stared at her in surprise.

"Of course I would, but I can't make you do something like that. I already owe you too much."

"You're not making me do this ensign. I'm offering to do it on my own free will. It wouldn't be that hard for me to drop by during some of your flight's simulator training sessions." The Angel placed a hand on her hip. "You've got potential, ensign. You need to polish your skills and learn to exercise better judgement, but you've got potential. That was obvious even when you were running for your life from that Vajra swarm." The white haired Meltran grinned. "Besides, there's a benefit in it for me too. You said you wanted to pay back the debt you owe me. I'm giving you the means to do that."

Richard laughed sheepishly.

"All right, although it's kind of embarrassing to get help paying back a debt from the person you owe the debt to."

Talsha shrugged.

"Yeah, well, keep in mind that you've also taken me out for dinner and listened to me talk about my problems. So why don't we make a deal? I'll train you to become a better pilot, and you meet with me every once in a while so that we can chat." A smirk spread across her face. "Heck, I'll even let you treat me to lunch."

Richard laughed at the Meltran's comment.

"All right. Just as long as you don't choose anything that's _too_ out there price wise. I need to watch my budget."

"Don't worry, I'm not like a certain red-haired pilot that I fly with. I'll be sure to choose some place that's reasonable." Talsha's expression turned more serious. "Is that fine with you, ensign?"

Richard nodded.

"It's more than fine lieutenant. Though I'd prefer it if you'd call me Richard when we're off duty."

"That's fine. I'd prefer it if you'd call me Talsha as well." Talsha held out her hand. "Do we have a deal, Richard?"

Richard nodded as he grasped the Meltran's long and slender hand with his own small one.

"We have a deal," he agreed.

Talsha's fingers might have been slender, but she still had a powerful grip.


End file.
